


An Unexpected Life Change

by Tari_Kancheewa



Series: TARDIS Tales - A Witch's Perspective [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Too many Characters to name, you're in for a long ride
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:54:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 29,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24997921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tari_Kancheewa/pseuds/Tari_Kancheewa
Summary: Hermione Granger, brightest witch of her age, 15 years old, lives in the Powell Estate with her dentist mum and dentist dad and is not looking for an adventure outside of her academia, no, she just wants to get the summer holidays over with as she is entering her OWL year... but here's the thing, Fate has another calling for this witch, a calling that will change her life forever.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler, many others - Relationship
Series: TARDIS Tales - A Witch's Perspective [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1809679
Comments: 15
Kudos: 13





	1. A Boring Day

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I first created this in 2005-2006, but I was unhappy with it, so I deleted the lot - really regretting that now.   
> So this is the birth of a saga that has stayed with me since then, bear with me, because this is going to be a long one.

"Hermione! Time to get up, sweetheart!" The girl in question groaned, like she always did over the holidays.

Sitting up, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and yawned, "I'm up!" she called, hopping out of bed, grabbing a quick shower and breakfast before grabbing her bag and heading for the door.

"Where you going today?" her Mum asked, this was a common question for her as her family always worried about her, she was the youngest after all.

"Only to the library again. Just got two more assignments to complete and then I'm finished." she replied, blowing a kiss through the air and leaving the flat. 

Heading down the stair she heard her name being called. Turning and looking up, she saw Rose Tyler heading down, "race ya!" she greeted, Hermione already halfway down the next flight of stairs. "Whew!" They caught their breath and walked for the bus.

Rose Tyler was 19 years old, four years older than Hermione, and was Hermione's good friend. For the past four years Rose and thought Hermione went to a private school, oh how Hermione _wished_ she could tell her the truth.  
Standing about half a head taller than Hermione, Rose has blonde hair and grey-blue eyes, her thick London accent making her sound the stereotypical Londoner. "You heading out to the library again?" 

"Yeah, only two more and then I'm all yours for the rest of the holiday." Hermione and Rose often went shopping and did lunch together, normal girlie things that Hemione only ever did with Rose. No one else.  
Hopping on the bus, they continued to talk about mundane things, like food, the latest boy and who was dating who, it made Hermione feel like a normal 15 year old when she spoke like this with Rose.

"Right this is my stop, I'll see you at lunch, yeah?" 

Hermione made an agreeable sound, waved at Rose as she continued on to the library.  
What seemed like hours later, Hermione finished one of her assignments and went to meet Rose and her boyfriend, Mickey Smith, for lunch, laughing and joking, the usual salad and tea combo from Greg's for her as she chuckled along with Rose as Mickey made an idiot of himself.

Bidding the others farewell, she retuned to the library and pulled out her History of Magic assignment.  
Perhaps you already know, but Hermione Granger was a witch. She was soon to be entering her fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, she was the brightest witch of her age and belonged to the noble house of Gryffindor.   
Her best friends, Harry Potter - yes **that** Harry Potter - and Ron Weasley had most likely squandered such a great study time with other stuff, but Hermione used any free time she had to study, it was her crutch in a soon to be turbulent time.   
She was also a lifelong Wicca, having an extra type of magic that she _could_ use in the presence of non magical people, like Rose. So when her fifth cup of tea had gone cold whilst she had been engrossed in her work, she simply thought about warming it up and it was back to temperature.

Her mobile phone buzzed, it was a message from her mum saying that they were going out for tea and she was free to stay with Rose, there was another message from Rose, herself, saying that she'll be finished at the usual time, she'd meet her outside. Hermione always came into the store to wait for Rose to finish.  
Finally she had finished her homework, the rest of the summer was hers!  
Packing up, Hermione secured her wand and checked her surroundings. Since the end of last year, she was on guard when she was alone, Death Eaters and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had yet to make a public appearance and the Daily Prophet were dragging the names of Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore through the mud.

Her timing for the bus was perfect, she got off at Hendrick's Department Store where Rose worked, and waited for the next ten minutes, reading a cleverly concealed book of spells and waving her hand in mock practise.   
"Hello, Hermione!" Greeted Carl, the security guard, he had long since gotten used to Hermione being there to meet Rose. "Good book?"

Hermione looked up at the sound of her name and smiled, "yeah, really good actually, it's a little project I'm doing for school." she lied.

Carl nodded and looked at his watch, "she shouldn't be long."

Ten minutes later, Rose pulled the book out from under Hermione's nose and waved the lottery money at her, "come on, you can come with me, it won't take long."

They went down to the lower parts of the building, calling for Wilson the Electrician. The first thing Hermione noticed was that it was eerily quiet.

Grabbing Rose's arm she pulled her to a stop, "let's just go back up and say we couldn't find him."

Rose laughed, "what are you afraid of ghosts or something?"

"I go to a school full of ghosts, trust me they don't frighten me. There's just something wrong..." Hermione trailed off, not even realising what she had just said.

"Oh we'll be alright. Come on, let's go. Wilson?!" Rose called out, her voice bouncing off of the concrete walls. 

As Rose's arm slipped from Hermione's hand, the witch in question looked back and saw movement. "Rose!" she hissed.

The two walked towards the movement, Rose still calling for the lottery money. "This is wrong." Hermione muttered to herself, pulling her wand out and gripping it tightly, _I don't care if I get expelled... this could be anything!_

There was a crash from behind them, the door was jammed. Rose dropped the money and ran to bang loudly on the door demanding to be let out. Hermione watched as one of the many redundant shop window dummies seemed to turn its head towards her, she blinkedand shook her head, onky then realising it wasn't a trick of the light.   
Raising her wand, Hermione called out to Rose. The older girl met her at the wall and they backed up, "I'm telling you to knock it off!" Hermione shouted, "don't make me use this!" 

"Use what? That's a stick!" Rose snapped.

"It's a _WAND_!" Hermione shouted.

"Run!" Someone said. 

Hermione felt Rose grab her arm, making her drop her wand. "No!" Hermione shrieked, trying to get back to get it, only to find her path blocked by a hoard of plastic dummies. There was a man stood at the door, ushering them through, "my wand! I need my wand!" she pleaded.

The man frowned at her, "you a magician or something? Oi!"

Hermione saw her chance and barged past them all, finding her wand easily, "Hermione!" She heard Rose call. She took a breath a charged back through them, they were only plastic, after all. Not exactly heavy. 

She met the stranger and Rose back at the elevator. One of the dummies grabbed Hermione's shoulder in an extremely tight grip, causing her to scream. As she screamed, a shock of ice shot through the dummy's arm and it let go.  
"Nice one!" the stranger praised as Hermione all but fell into Rose's arms, earning a slap from the girl in question. 

"What the hell were you thinking?! Going back for a pathetic stick?" she shrieked, Hermione lost her temper.

"I'm a witch!" she screamed back, "I go to a school for witchcraft and wizardry, Rose! That is why my wand is so important to me! Without it I can't be of any help!" There. She had said it, now all she had to do was wait for someone to tell her she was expelled.

The tension was thick, but Hermione saw the stranger pull off the arm of another dummy and throw it at Rose. "To get that many people involved it's got to be students," Rose reasoned with the man, "when Wilson catches them, he's gonna call the police."

"Who's Wilson?" he asked.

"The Electrician."

"Oh, Wilson's dead." he said bluntly.

Hermione and Rose fell silent, was this man telling them the truth? "So who was that lot, then?" Rose asked, Hermione following behind them out of the elevator.

"Hold, mind your eyes." the stranger pulled out a metal rod with a blue tip, he pushed a button, it flashed and made a strange whirring sound before sparks blew the control of the elevator.

"I said, who were they?" Rose demanded.

"They're made of plastic," the stranger explained, leading the two of them out of the building. "Living plastic creature. They're being controlled by a relay device in the roof of this building, which would be a big problem if I didn't have this!" he waved an object in front of them. He opens the fire exit door for them, they went through, he didn't. "I'm going to go up there and blow it up! I might die in the process, but don't you two worry about me, just go home and have your beans on toast. Oh one more thing, don't tell anyone about all of this, if you do, you'll likely get them killed."   
He disappeared, Hermione looked at Rose, who looked at Hermione.  
They were about to turn away when the door opened back up.   
"I'm the Doctor, by the way, what are your names?"

"Rose."

"Hermione."

The stranger smiled. "Nice to meet you Rose and Hermione, run for your lives!" he slammed the door again and the two of them ran across the road, almost getting hit by a taxi as they did.

_**BOOM!!** _

The two of them hit the floor as a massive explosion erupted from the roof of the store. Hermione, who was used to these kinds of things happening at school, was quick to recover, she got up, pulled Rose to her feet and ran home, the two of them going to Rose's where they found Jackie Tyler - Rose's mum - already at the door and on the phone.

"Oh my god they're alive!"


	2. On the Move

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Hermione is taken to Grimmauld Place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DO NOT OWN THESE FRANCHISES!!
> 
> Lol just putting this here - just in case.

Hermione and Rose were ushered into the flat by the overly chatty Jackie, she was on the phone - as usual - to someone Hermione had never met.  
She fiddled with her wand, uncomfortable around the non-magical for the first time in her life. _I can't believe I said those things to Rose! Oh I'm going to be expelled for sure!_  
Her analytical mind kicked in with that thought, they couldn't expel her, she hadn't performed any sort of magic that the Ministry of Magic could detect, she had just mentioned it, yes, her fears were now ebbing away.

There was a knock at the door that Jackie rushed to answer and Hermione felt her blood chill; it wasn't her parents. "Good evening, Mrs Tyler. My name is Remus Lupin."

"Whatever you're selling, I'm not buying." Jackie said, harshly, catching the reflection in the tv, Hermione got up and dashed to the door before Jackie could slam the door in the poor man's face.

"Jackie, wait!" she called, "it's okay, I know him!" she pushed passed the woman and closed the door, grabbing the key as she did. Looking back, Hermione guided her old Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher away from the flat, so that they could talk. "Sorry about that... Rose!" 

Rose, who had clearly been seconds behind her, pulled her back and behind her. "You don't have to worry, Hermione, you don't need to go with this bloke if you don't want to. And you!" she pointed her finger at the calm man, "you need to get lost, or I'm calling the police."

Hermione watched as Lupin raised an amused eyebrow, a small, gentle, smile on his scarred face. "You have some very protective friends, Hermione. It's nice to see that we don't really have to worry about you." he looked around Rose at the witch in question. "I'll come back tomorrow, I'll see if we can't let your friend here in on the secret." tipping Hermione a wink, Remus gave a whistle and - to Hermione's absolute shock - a great black dog trotted past.

"Snuffles?" she said before she could stop herself.   
The dog turned and gave a happy wag of his tail before following behind Remus, who tipped his hat to Rose and left. Passing the two were her parents, they seemed to be a little flustered.

"Hermione!" 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning saw Hermione getting up, pretty early, due to a sharp pain in her shoulder, getting up she went out into the flat to make herself a cup of tea, only to stop at the hallway mirror, since it was summer she wore a thin strap t-shirt and a thin pair of cotton sweatpants to bed, meaning that she noticed the dark bruise on her shoulder. "Well that explains the pain." she muttered, returning to her room to fetch the thin dressing gown she always wore in the summer.  
She had decided to make her way to Rose's before her parents woke up to notice the bruise, leaving them a note so that they wouldn't worry. "Morning, Rose." she greeted, letting herself in with a knock to see Rose on her way to the bathroom. "Morning Jackie!" she greeted, receiving a cup of tea and a warm smile. "Hahaha, how did you know I'd be here?" 

"I didn't." Jackie answered, pecking Hermione on the cheek as the younger girl sat down to watch the telly. 

Once Rose was up and dressed, Jackie began asking her what she was going to do for a job now, whilst Hermione was only half listening. There was a knock at the door, Hermione instantly knew who it was. Jumping to beat Jackie to the door, she greeted Remus Lupin with a smile. "Good morning, Hermione," he greeted. Behind him stood someone Hermione didn't expect to see outside of school, _ever_ ; Professor Severus Snape, her Potions teacher and head of Slytherin House.

"Good morning, Mr Lupin, Professor Snape. I wasn't expecting you here, sir." she watched as Snape's lip started to curl, but then Jackie came to the door.

"You again?!" This time Hermione managed to get in front of the two men before she could pull Hermione back in.

"Easy, Jackie, they're teachers from my school." 

At this Jackie calmed down.  
"May we come in for a moment, Mrs Tyler?" Asked Lupin.

"Sure, but Hermione doesn't live here..."

"We are also here to speak with you and your daughter." Snape answered in his usual drawl, his black and dark grey suit a rather tasteful contrast to his usual black billowing robes. He looked slightly washed out in contrast to the colours of Jackie's flat, it almost made Hermione giggle.

Once everyone was sat down, Remus first explained the whole convoluted story of Harry and the wizarding world to Jackie and Rose, answering all the questions they had (which was surprisingly little when Hermione stopped to think about it) with the infinite patience that both Lupin and Snape had, before then turning to Hermione to tell her of the situation she and Ron were now in.  
From what Hermione had already figured, with her and Ron being Harry's best friends, they and their families were very large targets for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, he could snatch Hermione right off of the streets and no one would know until it was too late.  
As a result, her parents were being moved to another house that would be under wizarding protection, whilst she stayed with Rose and Jackie, who would also be protected by the wizards who were going to move into her old flat.

"Hold on," Jackie interrupted, "how'd you get them to agree to move?"

"My parents have a bit more knowledge about this than you think, Jackie." Hermione explained, "though I doubt they were happy about me being left here."

"No, they were far from it, but they know it is necessary." Lupin soothed, continuing with his explanation, Hermione was told that Mickey had also been let in on the secret as he, too, was a close friend to Hermione.   
She was also told that she had to remain silent with regards to Harry asking questions, just to send him their usual birthday treats and nothing more. The less he knew the safer her was.  
Hermione didn't believe that, not one bit. But she wasn't about to argue the fact with two people who were still hiding something from her.

"When do you need me?" she asked.

"Oh we'll be by to collect you tomorrow evening. Until then, I suggest you stay close to home."

"And keep your wand with you, Granger." Snape instructed, "though you are still underage, you may as well remain somewhat armed."

Hermione nodded, "of course, Professor, besides I have my Wicca magic, the Ministry doesn't track that kind of magic so I can fight off anything that comes too close."

Lupin smiled, "and Merlin help anyone who does!" there was a chuckled and the two wizards left.

Hermione as about to sit back down when she heard the cat flap go. _Odd, I was sure that was nailed down this morning._ Rose seemed to have noticed too, chiding Jackie as she went.

Next thing Hermione knew, the man from yesterday was being led into the living room. "Oh, hello!" he greeted, "nice to see you again."

Hermione looked at Rose, who shrugged, "insurance policy," she mouthed as Jackie went about her daily routine.  
"Do you want another one, Hermione?" nodding to the empty cup in Hermione's hand, the young witch shook her head.

The man, Doctor Something if she remembered, though she couldn't remember his surname, picked up a magazine off of the table, flicking through, Hermione watched him in mild fascination as he commented on a relationship that wouldn't last _I wonder which one is gay and an alien_ she thought. 

He picked up the mail, looked in the mirror and made fun of his ears, almost as though this was the first time he'd seen his reflection. Picking up a deck of cards, he shuffled and winked at Hermione. "Lucky be a lady!" he sang, throwing cards everywhere, earning a giggle from Hermione as he did. She stifled a squeak at the sound of something moving behind the sofa.  
"Hold on, what's that then?" He twitched his head, indicating for Hermione to move, she did, slapping her hands over her mouth to stop the scream that was going to come as the plastic arm Rose had been carrying last night flew out from behind the sofa, wrapping itself around the Doctor's throat. 

Hermione moved to pull it off him, not succeeding as it had a vice-like grip, _I thought Mickey got rid of this thing last night?!_. Rose came in talking about giving a boy a plastic arm and chastising Hermione for playing along. "Urgh, Rose this is not a prank! This thing's got hold of his throat!" as she finished her sentence, Hermione heard the hairdryer start up in Jackie's room as the arm let go of the Doctor, Hermione squeaked and ducked as it attached itself onto Rose's face.  
"Oh God, Rose!"

"I've got her!" The Doctor and Hermione moved to pull the arm off of Rose, it wouldn't budge. 

"Move!" Hermione instructed, pushing the Doctor out of the way and pulling on a little of her Wicca magic, "got off of her!" she snarled, snatching it from Rose's face -Rose gasping for breath- as the Doctor jabbed the metal device Hermione remembered from yesterday into the palm of the plastic hand and killing whatever current was going through it.

"Whew, nicely done, yet again!" congratulated the Doctor to Hermione, throwing the arm at Rose, "there we go, 'armless!" the pun made Hermione groan as Rose swatted him across the arm.

The Doctor got up and left the house, stating the Jackie that he had everything he needed. "Hold on you can't just go swanning off!" Rose protested, chasing after him, Hermione hot on his heels, her hands tingling from whatever had been controlling the arm.

"Yes I can," he replied, "here I go, this is me, swanning off."

"But that arm moved, it tried to kill me!" Rose protested, Hermione was now almost certain that the current of energy that still had her fingers tingling was electricity of some sort.

They hit the ground level with the Doctor and Rose still arguing, "alright, then we'll go to the police," Rose tried to threaten, "you said that if we went to the police or told anyone we'd get them killed, so it's your choice."  
The Doctor wasn't convinced.

"Who are you?" Hermione finally spoke up, the Doctor turned to her.

"Told you, I'm the Doctor." he answered.

"Yes, but Doctor who?" Hermione argued.

"Just that. The Doctor."

"The Doctor?"

He turned a big grin towards her, waving the arm at her. "Hello!" he said cheerily.

Hermione chuckled, "is that supposed to sound impressive?" she teased.

"Sort of, yeah." The Doctor shrugged.

"Are you the police? Come on, you can tell us," Hermione pleaded, dashing in front of them and walking backwards as she spoke. She was excited, she was giddy... it must have been the electric shock, but she was curious about this stranger and the plastic that had a life of its own.

"Nah, I'm just passing through." he seemed to go pensive, "I'm a long way from home. Whoa, careful!"  
Hermione had tripped over her own feet as a vision of a burnt orange sky and the sounds of screaming entered her mind. "You okay?" Shaking her head free of the vision, she found herself in the clutches of Rose and the Doctor.

"Y-yeah, sorry about that. Teach me for walking backwards, haha." she laughed nervously. _Where had_ that _come from?_ She thought as the other two step her right again.

"Anyway, that living plastic is after me, not you two." The Doctor started walking again, Rose and Hermione fell into step wither side of him. "I was in the shop last night, you two blundered in, and now the only reason it's after you both is because you met me." 

"So the whole world revolves around you?" Rose joked.

"Sort of, yeah."

"Hah, you're full of it!" she teased.

"Who else knows about this plastic stuff?" Hermione asked, all serious, she wanted to know more.

The Doctor looked at her, "just me."

Now Hermione stared at him, "what, so you're on your own?" she asked.

"Well who else is there?" he replied as though it had been painfully obvious. "You lot, you just get up, go to work, eat chips, watch telly and go to bed. All the while there's a war going on under your feet." The way he spoke made Hermione think that this man might either be insane or he might not _actually_ be human.  
Hermione walked beside the older two listening in on their banter of thought controlled living plastic and price wars - that part was a joke - "They want to overthrow the human race and destroy you." That had the both of them stop for moment, "you both okay?"

"No," they replied.

"But you're still listening." He was right about that part, Hermione was more than curious about this now. It wasn't the concept of plastic moving of it's own accord (you should see the Weasley's back garden) she lived in a world where inanimate objects like paintings and statues moved and talked, but the idea of the plastic being controlled by thought and that the puppet masters were potentially not from Earth was a difficult thing to digest; it meant they were not alone in the universe.

"Seriously, though, Doctor," Hermione spoke up, she and Rose stopping again. A playpark next to them. "Who are you?"

The Doctor, who had waked a couple of paces in front of them, stopped, turned and walked back to them. "Do you know like we were saying about the Earth revolving?" Hermione nodded, not fully understanding.   
"It's like when you were a kid. The first time they tell you the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it because everything looks like it's standing still. I can feel it." He took their hands. Hermione felt the kind of nausea one feels when they're on a large floating ship, you can't see it moving, but you can feel it, just a little.  
"The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling round the sun at sixty seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go." As quickly as it had come, the nausea stopped, Hermione blinked, staring into the eyes of a man she was suddenly afraid of.   
"That's who I am. Now, forget me, Rose Tyler and Hermione Granger," he waved the arm again, turning as he said, "go home."

Turning to walk back the way they had come, Rose and Hermione were greeted with Remus Lupin and Snuffles, "hello, you two." As she made her way over to the wizard, there was a strange sound coming from behind them, turning, she ran back, Rose right behind her, "Hermione!" Remus called after her, the noise was fading fast, nothing could be seen.  
"Are you two alright?" Remus appeared behind them, concerned.

"Yeah we're fine." Hermione said, absentmindedly.

They walked back to the flat where Hermione had found her belongings already waiting for her. Jackie stood glaring at an unfamiliar person with shocking pink hair. "Ah, Hermione," Remus began, "allow me to introduce Nymphadora's Tonks, more commonly known as Tonks." 

The witch in question straightened up and tipped the two teenagers a wink. "Wotcha!" she greeted, Hermione instantly taking a liking to her. "Ready to go?"

Hermione and Rose both exchanged a look, "I thought I was being collected tonight?" 

"Slight change of plans, something has surfaced that we don't quite understand, so we're going to bring you to your new abode now to be safe." Remus explained.

"She's not staying locked up for the rest of the holidays," Rose said suddenly, "I want to see her, too."

Tonks looked over at Remus somewhat nervously. "I can always bring Snuffles with me, at least he can sniff out any potential threats," Hermione spoke cryptically.

"We'll have to see," Remus replied. "For now, let's just get you to where we need you." a gentle smile, tip of the hat and farewell later and Hermione was handed an object; Portkey.   
The next second found Hermione in a small expanse of greenery, the street name reading Grimmauld Place.


	3. Of Black Houses and Back Garden Sheds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hermione spends the afternoon getting herself acquainted with the House of Black, helping with household chores, before meeting Rose and Mickey to go and visit Clive about the Doctor

Remus and Tonks appeared next to Hermione a few moments after she had landed, they looked around with a caution that set Hermione's teeth on edge. All apparently was clear, so they led Hermione to a house that had not been there when she had arrived - magically hidden from Muggle view.  
"Number 13 Grimmauld Place." she mumbled to herself as she helped the other two cart her luggage over the threshold into a dark, narrow hallway.

"Hermione, dear!" Greeted the friendly face of Molly Weasley, mother to Ron and Ginny. "I'm glad to see you here safe and sound!"

"Hello, Mrs. Weasley." she returned the greeting with a hug over the luggage.

**CRACK!**

"Hermione!"

"Hello, there, old bean!"  
The twins Fred and George -identical in every way- had apparated behind their mother who jumped, scolding them. The twins laughed as they hoisted Hermione over her luggage and tapped her bags with their wands, "you'll be sleeping with Ginny," spoke Fred, Hermione could tell the difference between the two due to the face that Fred was slightly taller than George, she appeared to be the only one who noticed this, however.

"Hello, Hermione!" called Ginny from down the hall, Ron behind her, waving nervously as Hermione made her way down the hall, noticing that everyone was talking in a hushed voice.

As she came down the staircase, Hermione smelled something tasty, _this must be the kitchen._ she thought.  
The tasty smell turned out to be several steak pies, line in the centre of the table. "Guess I'm in time for," she looked at her wrist watch, "lunch." she joked.

"Hello, there, Hermione!" the voice of her best friend's Godfather, Sirius Black, sounded just off to her left.

Turning she beamed. "Hello, Sirius!" the two hugged and Hermione suddenly felt a little better.

"You'll be alright, Hermione. You'll be safe here. " he stated, though Hermione was certain her safety was only for the safety of Harry.  
"Welcome to my family home."

Hermione blinked, " _your_ family home?"

Sirius nodded, glumly. "Yep, now being used as the headquarters to the Order of the Phoenix."

Hermione felt her eyes bug out as her memory sparked with recognition. "The Order of the Phoenix, as in the secret order that was set up to fight against You-Know-Who?"

"Haha! Why doesn't it surprise me that you already know about this?" Sirius laughed, leading Hermione to the table for food.

"Well, I did my research on Dumbledore... although I did that in my first year after we found out about Nicholas Flamel from the back of a chocolate frog card." this earned her a chuckle from Ron as he, too, remembered.

"Neville with the Leg Locker Curse!" they said in unison falling into a fit of laughter at the expense of their friend. "Sh-she had her nose stuck in books for days until she'd learnt everything." Ron gasped.

"Yeah, yeah, a habit that I've never broken and you and Harry ought to be thankful for that!" Hermione retorted.

Lunch came and went with a steady stream of conversation, then Hermione got drafted into minor chores, learning that the Black family House-Elf, Kreacher, wasn't doing his job properly. _They should try being nice to him, then. See where that gets them._ she thought, shaking the curtains free of the venomous Doxy nest that lay within.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A week later and Hermione felt her phone buzzing in her pocket. Reaching for it, she saw the message **Got a lead. Meet on next street.** It was from Rose.  
Grinning to herself, she rushed into her room and grabbed her bag. Turning, she almost ran head first into Ron.

"Whoa, where's the Fire Crab?" he joked.

"Sorry, Ron, but Rose has just called, I have to go!"  
She tried to push past, but Ron wouldn't move. "Ron..."

"Can I come? I'm sick of being stuck in this house all day every day, it's no fun!" He protested.

Humming in thought, Hermione told him to grab his bag, "remember we'll be with Muggles, so just act like you know what's going on. Okay?" she explained as the two headed for the door.

"Where are you two going?" Molly Weasley was waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs.

"Out. I was promised that I could still be around my friends, Molly. Plus Ron wants to come, so it's not like I'm going on my own." Hermione, frustrated with being questioned every time she left the house, thought she sounded like an average teenager, but then she saw the look on Molly's face, "We'll be safe, Molly, I promise."

"You're going to be with Muggles, dear. They won't know what threats there are out there."

"Mum, we'll be fine. Promise, we'll be back home by tea time-" Ron started.

"No, we won't. We're eating out. Rose and I made that arrangement yesterday." Hermione cut across. "Molly, we're going to be late if you don't let us go now. Please." Hermione hated this, it was only Rose and Mickey.

"I haven't got any money," Ron stated, going red in the ears.

"It's fine. I've got plenty to cover it." Hermione grabbed Ron and moved past Molly, who attempted to try and continue to convince them to stay inside, but Hermione shut the door and the two of them didn't breathe until they were across the road.

"Blimey, I knew she was paranoid, but I didn't think she was that bad. Sorry, Hermione." Ron apologised as he followed her across the green.

"It's okay, she's your mum. And don't worry, I have plenty of money for the two of us," Hermione searched for Mickey's yellow car and found it easily as Ron asked a question that made her stumble.

"This isn't what Muggles call a date, is it?"

"What? No! Goodness no. Just dinner with friends." Hermione felt a blush creep into her cheeks as she clambered into the back behind Ron.  
"Right intros, Rose, Mickey this is Ron, Ron this is Rose and Mickey."

There was a round of hellos as Mickey drove off. Hermione had yet to fill Ron in on the situation, deciding to leave the investigation to Rose whilst she helped Ron with his homework, it didn't look like Mickey knew anything either as he was trying to talk Rose out of seeing a man named Clive. "That's exactly what an internet lunatic murderer would say!" he protested.

Hermione turned to Ron, "okay, so remember what I said about this not being a date? Well pretend it is." Ron was, fortunately, quick to catch on as he nodded somewhat nervously.  
Hermione was happy to see that he knew how to play the part, if nothing else.

She and Rose knocked on the door, one of the neighbours was putting out a black bin across the street, Hermione chuckled seeing Mickey glaring at the poor person. The door opened and Rose introduced them to a young boy. "Oh. Dad! It's one of your nutters." 

The two shifted nervously as a man who clearly worked in a call centre came to the door. He led them through the very nice house out into a well kept back garden and into a shed packed full of computers, wires and pages of theories all tacked up on the walls, the windows were blacked out, _oh great, it's a tinfoil hat job_ , she thought.

"I couldn't just send this to you, a lot of it is sensitive and these days you never know who could be watching you... if you know what I mean." he said, pottering about the shed.

Hermione stood and listened as Clive rattled on about a man who never aged, different men with the same name, all were followed by a natural disaster, one of which -Hermione what surprised to find- was the Titanic, the face in the photo that had been taken nearly a century ago was the same as the man they had met a week ago.  
"Death is his one constant companion," said Clive ominously, "if you've met him, then you and those around you are in mortal danger." 

And on that note, they left.  
"You're right, complete nutter." Rose announced as she and Hermione got back into the car.   
"Come let's go and get some pizza." she invited, Hermione nodded, looking at Ron, who had a smile plastered onto his face.

"You're okay with pizza, yeah?" she asked. 

"P-p-piz-zaa!" Ron stuttered, Hermione frowned; something wasn't sitting right in her gut.


	4. Of Plastic Men and Wooden Boxes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Hermione and Rose realise just how deep the trouble runs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, just going to say it here and now, Hermione has the ability to see into the future, it is only a minor thing, according to Wicca sources, it is called scrying.  
> She can utilise most of the elements used in scrying, but her visions are not always right.  
> What _is_ always right, however, is her gut instinct; Harry and Ron joke about it being a form of scrying in and of itself.  
> Her intelligence and imagination in this story -and all subsequent stories in this series- are going to often make her out of character. 
> 
> I hope you all like this, and a really hope that any mistakes you notice or queries you have are brought to my attention.
> 
> The one thing I will not allow, however, that I found on other fanfiction sites, is bullying or nasty comments.  
> Only constructive criticism is allowed on any of my stories. 
> 
> Right rant over, on with the show!!

The drive to the food court was a bumpy one, with Rose complaining that Mickey _really_ needed to sort the clutch out on his car. The drive was uneventful, but Hermione was getting nervous from the way Ron kept smiling.

_It isn't as though he hasn't been in a car before._ she thought, as the two clambered out of the car and separated from Rose and Mickey to get different food and a different table.  
"Well," Hermione sighed as she sat down with her food, Ron sitting opposite her, "guess that's the end of our freedom. _No way_ is your mum going to let me out of the house after today's little fiasco."

Frowning, Hermione caught sight of a black shape sat by the kitchens. "So where did you meet this Doctor, mate?" Ron, who had not touched his food and, instead, just sat there staring at her as she ate hers, grabbed Hermione's hand and squeezed hard, _too_ hard for Ron.

"Ow! Ron that hurts!" she hissed, noticing the dog stand up, it's head cocked in confusion.  
Then she registered _what_ Ron had said. "I never said anything about any _doctor_! What are you talking about?!"

His grip became so tight that Hermione saw her hand losing its circulation, "I just want to keep you safe, mate. Isn't that why I'm here?"

Wait... _mate_?! Ron never called her mate. "Y-you're not Ron." she tried to pull her hand back, "let me go!" she shouted, trying to get away from him. Pulling on her Wicca magic, she froze 'Ron's' hand in fear.

"Mickey!" turning, Hermione saw someone pull 'Mickey's' head off of his shoulders.

_Plastic!_ she thought, _they were plastic replicas!_  
"Snuffles!" she shrieked, knowing full too well who the black dog was. The dog started to bark, alerting everyone else in there that something was off, as Hermione pulled 'Ron' forwards and slammed his plastic hand into as nearby support pillar, smashing his hand to releases hers and setting off the fire alarm as she did.

"Everyone get out, get out now!" she heard Rose shout. Racing over to her friend, she looked for the source of the barking and found Snuffles still by the doors to the kitchen.

"Kitchen, go!" the two girls ran as a headless Mickey and handless Ron chased after them, the Doctor -who had pulled off 'Mickey's' head- was already through the doors and towards the kitchen exit.  
Plastic Ron blocked the two from escaping and a feral snarl sounded just off to their right. A great black dog launched itself at 'Ron' and sunk his teeth into the arm, pulling at it and clearing the way for the girls to make a run for the door the Doctor had gone through.  
Hermione stopped on the outside of the door, holding it open in anticipation as the headless 'Mickey' turned to fight the dog. "Sirius, come on!" she shouted over the crashing pots and pans.  
She gave a chuckle as Sirius bolted past her with the handless arm of 'Ron' in his jaws.

Rose had been shouting for the Doctor to open the doors to the yard they had now found themselves in, demanding that he used the metal rod he was currently prodding the plastic head with to open the lock.

"It's called a sonic screwdriver," he retorted, "tell you what, let's go in here," he pointed to a wooden box, Hermione had not noticed until now. The Doctor turned to Hermione and cocked his head, "come on. Oh, and he," he pointed at Sirius, who still had a still moving arm in his jaws, "can turn back into a human once your all inside.

Hermione felt her eyes bug out, "how did you-?!"

**BANG!!**

Hermione left the question to hang as she and Rose made a dash into the box, Sirius trotted in behind them. "Wait... hold on..." Both Rose and Hermione ran back out and around the seemingly small box before the door to the building they had just come from gave in.  
"Oh sod it!" Hermione turned on her heel and held up her hands, ice forming at her fingertips.

"Get in here, both of you, NOW!" called and now transformed Sirius.  
Throwing up a wall of ice to slow their pursuers, Hermione turned and ran into the waiting arms of Sirius Black. "I've got you!" he said, kicking the door shut as he did so.  
"Will those doors hold them?" he asked the Doctor who was tinkering away with something.

The man in question just scoffed, "Hah! The entire hoards of Genghis Khan couldn't get through those door and believe me they've tried. Now shut up a minute."

Having been told to shush gave the adrenalin high witch a chance to look at her surroundings. They were in a room, it curved giving it a dome shape aesthetic, there were hexagonal shapes lining the walls and coral like structures protruding in certain sections, the colour were yellows and browns with a green light emitting from the central console -at least Hermione _thought_ it was a console- the column in the centre seemed to hum, the whole thing seemed to hum.

**_You are strange._**  
The sound of a voice in her head made her clutch to Sirius, who thought she had tripped. **_Strange, yet, there is intelligence and imagination..._** Hermione recognised the voice to be that of her own, just more eloquent. **_Such a pity, that intelligence and imagination is wasted on an ape like you!_**

"You see, an arm is too simple, thanks though," the Doctor appeared to be speaking to Sirius, "but the head is perfect, I can use it to trace back to the original source of power. Right!" he stopped and clapped his hands together, "where do you two," he pointed at Hermione and Rose, "wanna start?"

Shaking her head, Hermione spoke, so as to drown out the insult. "the inside is bigger than the outside."

"Yes."

"It's alien." Rose chimed in.

"Yeah."

"Are you an alien?" Hermione asked, her hands shaking.

"Yes. Is that alright?"

"Yeah." the girls chorused.

"It's called the TARDIS, thing thing. T, A, R, D, I, S. It stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space." Hermione sat down, Sirius sitting with her.

"Aliens..." she muttered, "they actually exist...!" her breathing came hard.

She looked up to see Rose burst into tears. "It's okay." The Doctor soothed, "it's a culture shock, happens to the best of us,"

"Are they dead?" Sirius asked, standing and placing a hand on Rose's shoulder. "Ron and Mickey, are they dead?"

The Doctor just blinked, "oh. I didn't think if that."

Hermione watched as Rose's temper flared. "Mickey's my boyfriend. You pulled off his head. Hermione's best friend has no hand! They copied them and you didn't even think? And now you're just going to let them melt?"

The Doctor spun round, Hermione ran up to the centre of the room, joined soon after by Rose and Sirius. "No! Nonononono!" he pushed a few buttons and pulled a few levers.

"What are you doing?!" Rose shouted as the whole room shook and vibrated, Sirius pulled Hermione into his arms as the two of the gripped the railings.

"Following the signal. It's fading! Aha! I've got it! No, wait. Almost there, almost there!" They came to a bumpy stop, Hermione hung to the railings for a moment before following Rose out the doors.

"No, wait, it's not safe!" Sirius called after them.

Hermione felt him come up behind her as she and Rose stared around them in awe, they were on London Bridge. They had moved. "I've lost the signal, I was so close!"

"Does this thing fly?" Rose asked. 

"Disappears in one place, reappears in another, you wouldn't understand." the Doctor was distracted by the loss of the signal. 

Whilst Hermione thought the same thing that Rose spoke aloud. "I'll have to tell his mother."

>"Molly's not going to like this." Hermione replied, looking at Sirius who was looking at the Doctor.

"What are you two on about?" he asked.

"Their mothers, the girls will have to tell their mothers that they are dead!"

"Yeah and you just went and forgot about them, _again_!" Hermione snapped.

"Look, even if I did forget a couple of kids named Ron and Mickey-"

"Yeah they're not kids!" Rose interrupted.

"-it's because I'm trying to save the life of every other stupid ape, blundering around on this planet, alright?!"

"Alright?!" the three exclaimed, anger evident in all of their eyes.

"Yes it is!" the Doctor finished the argument.

"If you are an alien," Rose asked, "how comes you sound like your from the north?"

"Lots of planets have north." he said defensively.

Sirius held Hermione's hand, "we have to go, Hermione. The Order's going to wonder where you and I have got to. We still need to break the news to Molly."

Hermione had other things on her mind. "What's a police public call box?"

The Doctor smiled and leant up against the blue wooden doors, "it's a phone box from the 1950s, it's a disguise."

She took a deep breath, trying to wrap her head around it. "Okay. And what does this living plastic have against us?"

"Oh nothing," the Doctor approached them, "Nothing. It loves you. You've got such a good planet. Lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air, perfect. Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs. It's food stock was destroyed in the war, all its protein plants rotted, so Earth, dinner!"

"And is there a way to destroy it?" Rose asked.

The Doctor pulled out a vial of blue liquid, "anti-plastic."

"Anti-plastic?"

"Anti-plastic! Now all I've got to do it find it, but how?" he spun around, " _how_ do you hide such a big, round, transmitter in the middle of London? It must be completely invisible."

"I don't know much about Muggle life, but what about that?" Sirius pointed to something that had Rose and Hermione grinning from ear to ear.

"What?" the Doctor turned around to face where he was pointing, then turned back, what is it, what?" He turned back again and then the knut dropped.  
Turning back, he grinned. "Oh. Fantastic!" 

Hermione took one hand and Rose took the other as the Doctor took off towards a parapet. Finding a manhole cover, the four of them scuttled down.  
"Urgh what is that _smell_?!" Hermione asked, watching as Sirius -now back in dog form- growled and sneezed.

"That would be the Nestene Consciousness." the Doctor explained.

Hermione wrinkled her nose, it smelt of burning rubber and other pollutants. Spying something down below them, Hermione felt her eyes widen. As she made her way past the Doctor, he held her fast, "hold on. We've got to ask for permission to approach."

Hermione tried not to show impatience as the Doctor, very diplomatically, asked for permission to approach. It was obviously given, as the Doctor thanked the Consciousness and let Hermione dash down the stairs. She was about halfway down when Rose gasped in shock.  
The reason for Hermione's impatience was Ron and Mickey, who both looked grubby and frightened.  
"Ron!" Hermione breathed, hugging him tight.

"Is the Muggle world always like this?" he asked, Hermione searched his eyes for signs of joviality and found none. 

"No." She answered. "No, it's usually very dull..." looking behind her, Hermione noticed the Doctor walking down the stairs scolding Rose about keeping domestics outside as she chewed him out for not mentioning the fact that Ron and Mickey were potentially alive, earlier in the evening. "Though something tells me, that we have just been blind to what happens under the surface."

"What d'you mean?" Ron asked.

"I mean all of this," she waved her hands around her, "all of this happens under our noses and no one notices." she remembered the conversation from last week. she had been curious about the Doctor, that had not been a lie, but she had also been terrified of him for some unknown reason. Now, she was beginning to understand that reason. Her gut was never wrong, after all. 

"Am I addressing the consciousness?" the Doctor inquired.

Hermione felt her head burn as a voice spoke within - _yessss_ -

She got up and stood beside the Doctor, Ron following behind her, his face scrunched in disgust. Hermione felt him take hold of her hand. "I'm behind you." he said.

"I know." she replied, "just watch my back."

"Gotcha."  
That was the thing about Ron and Harry, they always had her back when she needed them. Ron may be scared, filthy and stink like a wheelie bin, but he was a Weasley and a Gryffindor. He always had her back.

"If I might observe," the Doctor continued, breaking Hermione out of her thoughts, "you infiltrated this civilisation using warp shunt technology,"

"Using what?" Ron asked before he could apparently stop himself.

The Doctor either ignored him, or didn't hear him, Hermione, however, shrugged to let him know that she had heard him and didn't know herself. The Nestene Consciousness seemed to get agitated by this revelation, however as it screeched - _We know our constitutional rights! We are seeking asylum here!_ -

"Oh don't give me that," the Doctor snapped, irritated. "This is an invasion, plain and simple, so don't talk about constitutional rights!"

"Why would it be seeking asylum, here?" Ron asked, "doesn't it have a home?" He had come up to Hermione's side, still stood so that he could see behind the three of them.

"The Nestene Consciousness lost it's original home world in something called a Time War." The Doctor answered.

"Oh, right." Hermione remembered him telling them about the war in brief. She turned to Ron, "think of what we are about to go through in the Wizarding World, now think about that throughout history and the future, all happening at the same time."

Ron made an "Oh" sound to say that he understood it somewhat.

The two looked in two different directions as the Doctor continued. "These stupid apes have only just learned to walk, think of their untapped potential. Now I'm asking you, please, just go."

Sirius started to bark.  
"Doctor look out!" Rose shouted.

"Hermione!" At the exact same time, Ron shouted and grabbed Hermione by the hand, pulling her away from two shop dummies that had appeared from behind them.  
Sirius joined them in the shadows, his black form making him almost invisible.  
The dummies grabbed the Doctor who told the Nestene that the anti-plastic had just been for insurance and that he wasn't going to use it, it was then that a light shone and illuminated the blue box -TARDIS- above them all.

- _TIME LORD!_ \- the Nestene Consciousness screamed, - _YOU ALLOWED OUR WORLD TO BURN!_ -

"No that's not true, I was there! I could save your world!" The Doctor pleaded.

Hermione and Ron made their way up to the next level as slowly as they could, "Ron, take Mickey and Sirius and get over to the blue box." she asked, keeping her voice calm, her eyes never leaving the shop dummy that held the anti-plastic. "I've got an idea."  
Spying Rose racing for the TARDIS, she pushed Ron forward, before focusing her magic on that one dummy and relieving it of the anti-plastic. 

As she did so, she caught sight of Rose grabbing hold of a nearby chain; "I've got the bronze!" she said, swinging down, Hermione threw the vial of anti-plastic into the vat and leant against the TARDIS from exhaustion, the Doctor and Rose joined her and the boys and opened the door.

"Let's get out of here, shall we?" The Doctor invited. 

Hermione watched as Ron and Mickey looked around them as they landed in a shuttered street just off the Powell Estate. Mickey bolted right out, Sirius and Ron walked out casually -Sirius, once again, human.  
"Fat lot of good you were." Rose stated, heading for Mickey.

Ron and Sirius turned to hug Hermione. "Thanks, Hermione." Ron said, "let's _not_ do that again!"

The three of them laughed as the Doctor and Rose bantered between themselves. "How did you levitate that vial, by the way?" he turned to ask Hermione.

"Magic. It's complicated stuff," she winked, " you wouldn't understand."

The Doctor chuckled. "You know, this box isn't just a London hopper, it can go anywhere in the Universe."

Hermione felt her eyes widen. "Really?"

"Yes, really."

"Hermione..." Sirius started, the Doctor interrupted.

"You could both come with me." he looked between Rose and Hermione.

Mickey snapped at them not to go, "he's an alien, he's a _thing_!"

The Doctor returned the favour by saying Mickey wasn't invited, but Ron and Sirius were. Ron shook his head, "nah, mate. Thanks all the same, but that was too scary for me."

"Me too, plus I don't think either of us would understand _anything_ , less that these three even." Sirius continued.

The Doctor nodded, "fair enough, though maybe not the part about the understanding stuff, you can never learn too much."

Ron nudged Hermione, "are you going to go?"  
Hermione turned to face Ron, her eyes confused. "Learning all that he has to offer? Must be a dream come true for someone with your mind." 

Hermione looked into Ron's eyes, they were serious, but... "what about Hogwarts? What about our O.W.L.s?"

"Oh, Hermione," Sirius encouraged, "there is more to learn with him," he pointed to the Doctor, "than that school will ever be able to teach you."

"You're actually telling her to go with him?!" Mickey clearly couldn't believe what he was hearing.

Ron shrugged. "I mean, she is needed at school, but that's just because Harry and I aren't that smart. If she's not there to lean on, then we'll just have to learn without her."

Hermione blinked. "No." she said, "I can't abandon you two, or neglect my studies." She turned to the Doctor. "Don't get me wrong, I'd love to go with you. But I have my schooling to think of, plus people will never believe these two, and we're on the cusp of a war ourselves..." Hermione knew she was making excuses; a simple mirror image spell would make a bubble of herself that would convince anyone and everyone that she was still there...

"That's fine. I completely understand, school is important and yours sounds like fun, so yeah." The Doctor was trying to hide the fact that he sounded downhearted, probably not used to being told no.

Hermione listened to Rose as she, too, refused to go. The Doctor looked sad, Hermione knew Rose could go. The Doctor bid them farewell and the TARDIS dematerialised.  
"Come on, you three, let's get out of here." Rose called.

Sirius and Ron linked their arms through Hermione's and were about to catch up, when the TARDIS reappeared. The Doctor stuck his head out of the door, "did I also mention, it travels through time?"

Hermione stopped to look back. She felt Sirius's arm get pulled off of her, Ron leant down to whisper into her ear; "go and have fun!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I used to watch a programme based on a book series call animorphs.  
> They were basically animagi, people with the ability to turn into certain animals, but only for a short period of time before they ended up like Tobias and stuck as that particular animal forever.  
> They came across the issue of being naked for the world to see after they turned back, so they wore skin-tight clothes -usually swimming costumes/bathing suits, or leotards.  
> Therefore I got the idea that maybe Sirius had the same idea -he isn't a stupid man after all- which made it easier for him to turn back once he was inside the TARDIS.
> 
> Anyway hope you all like it so far... oh! And Sirius won't be travelling with them, he's just here for the ride on this event.


	5. Strangers in Space

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Start of "Episode 2".  
> In which Rose and Hermione travel to the end of the earth and meet some strange people in the process.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the hiatus, everyone. Hopefully I can work on this a bit more now that I'm back on furlough (suck to live in the UK at the moment lol)
> 
> Anyway I re-read something a chapter or two ago that came off a little harsh, I apologise for that and will be getting rid of that soon. 
> 
> Right, on with the Show!!

The TARDIS shook and shuddered, throwing Hermione back and forth as she struggled to maintain her grip on the centre console. "Right then," the Doctor announced, "where do you want to go first?"

Hermione gasped to catch her breath, "what?"

"Back or forwards?" The TARDIS stopped moving, just swayed gently.

"Oh, umm..." Hermione looked at Rose who shrugged.

"Forwards," she said, "one hundred years." she offered.

Buttons were pressed, switches were flicked and a paperweight like object was twisted as the Doctor pumped another control; the TARDIS lurched and threw her occupants around like peas in a colander. They stopped, Hermione knew she'd have bruises on her hands by the time this trip was over. "Right then, ladies, step outside that door and you'll find yourself in the 22nd century." 

"What?"

"You're kidding."

"Bit boring, yeah? Let's go further!" the Doctor exclaimed, giddy as a school boy as her sent the TARDIS further through time. "ten _thousand_ years into your future, the year 12005, the reign of the new Roman Empire. What?"

Hermione had burst out laughing, "I'm sorry, but _seriously_?!"

The Doctor's eyes gleamed in acceptance of the challenge, "right! I know _exactly_ where to go!" 

Hermione and Rose were thrown against the console once more, Hermione squealing in delight. She had been of thrill rides before, but _this_ took the cake!  
They landed with a bump and the TARDIS fell silent.

"Where are we?" Rose asked, her own excitement getting the better of her.  
The Doctor just invited them, proudly, to go and see for themselves.

"Come on!" Hermione grabbed Rose's hand and pulled her to the door.  
Upon exiting the TARDIS, Hermione felt her mouth drop at the sight in front of her. "Oh _wow_!" There was nothing else she could say, as she gazed out of an orbital window and in the vast blackness of space, she saw the Earth.

It was a humbling sight to be sure.

"You all spend your time worrying about dying, that you forget to imagine that maybe you survive." The Doctor stood between the two of them, "welcome to the year five point five slash apple slash twenty six. Five billion years into your future." There was an explosion behind the Earth, the sun grew in size, Hermione gasped. "This is the day the sun expands, welcome to the end of the Earth."

Hermione walked slowly up to the window, placed her hand against it and dropped to her knees in shock. It was beautiful, the Earth in all her glory, and the sun in all it's mighty splendour, she was suffocated by an overwhelming emotion. Sobs escaped, something heavy landed on her shoulders.  
"You okay?" the Doctor had put his leather jacket over her shoulders, it's weight felt comforting.

Hermione looked him in the eyes, hers blurring every now and again as she blinked back tears, his curious, caring, kind... "I-I don't know." she admitted. "I'm being hit with emotions left right and centre..."

The Doctor wrapped an arm around her shoulder, giving her a reassuring squeeze. "Just take a deep breath and steady yourself."

She was about to do as instructed, when a female voice sounded around them, "shuttles five and six now docking. Guests are reminded that Platform 1 forbids the use of weapons, teleportation and religion. Earth Death is scheduled for fifteen thirty nine, followed by drinks in the Manchester Suite." 

"Guests?" Hermione asked, her emotional claustrophobia disappearing as quickly as it had come, "there are other people here?"

"Depends on what you class as people." The Doctor explained, Hermione and Rose walking either side of him. Hermione realised she was still wearing his jacket, so she took it off and handed it back to him. "Thanks, anyway, I mean aliens, Rose. They're here to watch the Earth burn." he answered Rose's question about what kind of people he had been talking about.

They wandered down a corridor and were stopped halfway down it by a male, royal blue skin and black -Hermione assumed- tribal markings, he also has a blue jewel of some sort embedded in his forehead.  
"Who the hell are you three?"

"Oh charming." Hermione snarked before she could stop herself. "Is that anyway to treat guests?"

The Doctor stepped up beside her, "that's right, we're guests, I'm the Doctor and these two are with me. See?" he held up an identification pad and continued talking, the Steward appeared to back off slightly.

"I do apologise, Doctor, Rose Tyler and Hermione Granger. Welcome to Platform 1." he shuffled off, somewhat flustered, the Doctor looked back at Hermione with a grin.

"Well, well, look who's coming back out of her shell. You're pretty good on the spot."

Hermione blushed, "thanks. So what is he?"

"He's the Steward, his race are event holders." the Doctor explained. Oh, look sharp, here comes the rich and the richer still."

Hermione and Rose stepped back, "we have in attendance, The Doctor, Rose Tyler and Hermione Granger. Come along, now, hurry up!" The Steward hurried little blue people out of the room, they must have been workers as Hermione spied tool belts.  
"Now, might I announce our honoured guests, representing the Forest of Cheem, trees!"

Hermione looked to her left right and saw three trees, complete with facial features and clothing enter the room, two appeared to be male and the third appeared to be female, "by name, Jabe, Lute and Coffa."  
Jabe, as she was called, wore autumnal colours of scarlet and gold which made Hermione pine for the Gryffindor Common Room, Lute and Coffa wore simple dark brown and dark green colours, their bark-like skin seemed to represent a kind of ethnicity in her eyes.  
"There will be an exchange of gifts representing peace, now if we could keep the room circulating, please, thank you! Next from the solicitors Jolco and Jolco, we have the Moxx of Balhoon," what came through the door was a pudgy little off-colour blue alien that was all head and body on a transportation pod, Hermione thought of it like a mobility scooter. She smiled and nodded in polite greeting as the Trees and the Moxx went past. "Next we have, from the Financial Family Seven, the Adhearance of the Repeated Meme," a group of black robed robotic-type creatures came through the door next, catching Hermione off guard as she looked again to make sure they _weren't_ Death Eaters.  
The inventors of the Hypo-slip Travel Systems, the brothers Hop Pyleen, thank you."  
Hermione watched, with the fascination of a five year old, as other beings came through, she listened to the names or titles, such as Cal Spark Plug, Mister and Mrs Pakoo - who looked like vultures- and the Ambassadors of the City State of Binding Light.

The trees approached the Doctor, handing him a small pot with a rooted branch within, "the gift of peace," Jabe stated, "I give you a cutting of my Grandfather."

The Doctor smiled and handed the pot to Rose, who smiled took, he then patted down his jacket, looking for a gift in return. "A gift... ah! I give you the gift of air from my lungs." he took in a deep breath and exhaled around the three trees.

"How intimate." Jabe breathed.

Hermione cleared her throat, "forgive me for interrupting," the trees, Rose and the Doctor turned to her, "I have a gift for you all too, if I may?"

The trees nodded, "you may." 

Hermione clasped her hands together, gently rung her hands together and summoned ice to her palms, closing her eyes she pictured a mighty oak tree, opened up her hands and shaped the ice to the tree. "I give you a gift of peace, the shape is that of a mighty oak tree from old Earth, this species of tree symbolised strength and wisdom. May this gift remind you of that."

She handed the gift to Jabe, who held it up to the light and gasped in awe. "This is a most fascinating gift. Thank you." 

Hermione grinned as the Trees wandered away, talking animatedly about their gifts, "how did you do that?" The Doctor asked.

"I've told you before; magic." Hermione notice the little blue people were trying to get a large glass cabinet through the door, "oh my, _gosh_ , they're just a head in a really... really, big jar!" she breathed.

"From the Silver Devastation, the sponsor of the main event, please welcome the Face of Boe," Hermione couldn't believe what she was seeing, is was literally a head in a steam-filled jar.

The Mox of Balhoon approached them as the Face of Boe went past. "My felicitations on this historical happenstance. I give you the gift of bodily salivas." he spat at the space between her and Rose, Hermione tried to keep to disgust from her face, Rose didn't even try. 

The Doctor gave the Mox of Balhoon air from his lungs, Hermione her tree of ice, and turned to face Rose to calm her down as the Adherence of the Repeated Meme approached, giving their "gift of peace in all good faith." 

Once they had left, the Steward spoke again. "And last but not least, our very special guest. Ladies and gentlemen, and trees and multiforms, consider the Earth below." Hermione looked back out of the window, that overwhelming sense of emotion coming back to her. "In memory of this dying world, we call forth the last Human. The Lady Cassandra O'Brien Dot Delta Seventeen."

Turning back to the door, Hermione stifled a gasp. In was wheeled a metal frame with a wafer thin slab of skin attached to it, it had eyes and a mouth, connected to the bottom of the frame was a water filled jar with a brain inside it. Either side of this frame was a single humanoid figure that held a hose and carried a liquid container on their backs. "Oh, now, don't stare. I know, I know it's shocking, isn't it?" Cassandra spoke to the crowd, Hermione couldn't take her eyes off of it. "I've had my chin _completely_ taken away and look at the difference. Look how _thin_ I am." Hermione almost heaved as Cassandra went past, Rose wandered behind her and stared in disgusted awe at the sight of this thing.   
"Thin and dainty. I don't look a day over two thousand. Moisturise me. Moisturise me." one of her attendants sprayed her as she continued one. "Ah, yes, gifts. I present to you all the last Ostrich Egg, legend says that it had a fifty foot wingspan and blew _fire_ from it's nostrils."

Hermione turned her back for a second to get her sudden giggle under control; Cassandra had just described a dragon! That was no dragon egg.  
"And, finally, according to the archives, this was called an iPod, it plays old earth songs, you know! like so!"   
Fortunately Hermione's laughter was hidden by the _jukebox_ , playing Tainted Love.

_I can't do this anymore, I've got to get out before I make a fool of myself!_ she thought, excusing herself and going in the same direction as she had seen Rose go.  
Finding her in another observation room, Hermione walked in to hear her talking to the plant.

"I'm talking to a twig!" she mumbled.

"Wouldn't be the first time you've spoke to inanimate objects." Hermione announced her arrival with a joke that Rose smiled gratefully at.  
Sitting down next to her, Hermione nudged her, "hey, what's up?"

Rose looked at her for a second before heaving a sigh and looking back towards the window. "We are _so_ far away from home, yet, it's burning right in front of us..."  
Hermione nodded, sensing something more to it than that, "plus we just ran into a blue box with a complete stranger. I mean we know _nothing_ about him!"   
They sat in silence for a second whilst Hermione considered just how right Rose really was.

"It's scary," she said, "I get it, Rose. I was like that when I first started at Hogwarts." she looked at Rose, "I was so _desperate_ for people to like me, but then I found that no one likes a know-it-all. Halloween of my first year, Ron insults me, calls me a nightmare and says that it was little wonder that I had no friends..." she looked at her hands, "we had already gotten through the first month of school and I had no friends, just my books. It was all I knew. Anyway, a Mountain Troll got into the school and by pure luck, it found me in the Girl's Bathroom. If it hadn't been for Harry and Ron, I would have been a stain on the floor..."   
She gave a harsh laugh, "it took a couple of days for me to stop wondering if anyone would actually _miss_ me!"   
She caught Rose looking at her out of the corner of her eyes, "the point is, every year of my schooling has brought new things to learn, new people to meet, new dangers to run from. It's probably why I'm coping with this a bit better than you." Hermione rested her head on Rose's shoulder as Rose pulled her closer.   
"You are right, though, we did sort of take off with someone we know _nothing_ about." she giggled, "story of my life right now!" 

The two shared a chuckle, "Rose, Hermione, you in here?" the Doctor called.

"Yeah, Doctor!" Hermione answered.

"Aye, aye, what do you both think then?"

"Well, Hermione is _definitely_ enjoying the show, and once you get past the psychic paper and the fact they all speak English, yeah, it's great fun." Rose stated, though not nearly as enthusiastic as Hermione would have made it.  
"It's just... they're _so_ alien. The Aliens, I mean. You just look at them and they're _alien_!" 

The Doctor gave a chuckle, "good job I didn't take you to the Deep South." 

"Where are _you_ from, Doctor?" Hermione asked, curiously.

"All over the place," he dodged, "oh and the whole 'they speak English' thing, that's the TARDIS translating it. The telepathic field gets into your brain and translated automatically."

"Oh... cool." Hermione answered, not liking the way he looked when she asked him where he had come from... 

"You're ship gets into our heads and you didn't even ask?" Rose asked defensively.

"I didn't think about that.." the Doctor confessed.

"Nah, you were too busy taking cheap shots at the Deep South." she retorted, Hermione took a step back, _here comes the argument_.  
"Tell me who you are!" Rose shouted.

"This is me!" the Doctor snapped back, "This is who I am, right here, right now, all right? All that counts is here and now, and this is me!"  
The silence that followed was so deafening, Hermione wandered down to the window.

"Never argue with the designated driver." Rose admitted, hopping down next to the Doctor who had come to join Hermione. 

Hermione took out her mobile and frowned, "not like we could call a taxi from here, no signal."

The Doctor took her phone and asked for Rose's, "tell you what," he pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver, "with a bit of jiggery pokery..."

He threw Hermione back her phone and turned to Rose's, "is that a technical term?" Rose joked.

"Yeah, I came first at jiggery pokery, how about you?"

"I failed a hulabaloo!" The girls laughed.

"There ya go! Now you can call anyone from anywhere and anywhen!" 

Hermione looked down at her call list and saw her best friend's landline on the list. Dialling the number, she waited. " _Vernon Dursley here._ "

"Hello, Mr Dursley, my name is Hermione Granger, may I speak with Harry Potter, please?"

There was a moment of silence in which Hermione could almost feel the malice through the phone. " _One moment please._ " 

There was a moment in which Hermione could hear Harry and his Uncle having a heated discussion. " _Hermione?_ "

"Harry..." her voice shook a little. "Just thought I'd give you a call... see how you were."

Harry gave a small laugh, " _you know you could have sent an owl, right?_ "

"Have I got you into much trouble?"

" _Nothing I can't handle, anyway what's going on? It's not like you to call the house._ "

Hermione frowned, "wait, Ron didn't tell you? I'm with Rose."

" _Umm, I've got a letter from you marked yesterday and you're staying in London, right? Oh hey, listen, did you get my message about that book?_ "

Hermione blinked, the time frame was different. She was talking to him the day Hendrick's Department store got blown up... _that explains the sudden phone call the day after,_ she thought. "Oh yeah, I've got it for you, I'll give it to you when I see Hedwig next."

" _Thanks 'mione, you're the best._ "

"I know I am, you don't need to remind me," she joked, saying her goodbyes and hanging up. Turning to the Doctor and Rose - who had also just got off the phone - she shook her head, "that was bizarre."

The Platform shook, the Doctor smirked, "that's not supposed to happen."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, that's long enough lol
> 
> I'll try not to make these too long or drag them out too much.  
> Anyway, hope you enjoyed this, until next time!!


	6. Watch the World Burn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Hermione finds herself, once again, running from danger. This time, however, she is a long way from home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I, first of all, have an apology to make to Duskheart who asked me whether or not canon changes.  
> Now whilst canon will change, it will only be in certain chapters. Right now, Hermione is new to this and is trying to find her feet.  
> I will try to use a little less official script (sorry about that, but the 9th Doctor is a series that I don't enjoy until around episode three lol).
> 
> Secondly, if there are any other issues such as grammar or spelling, or if you feel like something is a little hard to read (too long) quote it to me and I'll sort it.

Hermione raced after the Doctor, who made his way back to the viewing gallery.  
"Oh my god, what is that _smell_?" Hermione asked, following it down another hallway, stopping short as she saw smoke emitting from the gap under the door.  
Looking up at the sign on the door, she saw that it read **Steward's Room**.  
Seeing that the Doctor and Rose were not with her, Hermione tried to push the door open. When she managed to push it open, she felt fire on her face. 

Ducking back round the corner, she saw the heat from the sun begin to melt the metal of the wall opposite her.  
"Well, five billion years into the future, I doubt anyone is going to tell me off for doing this." Hermione mumbled to herself, pulling out her wand and holding it out in front of her eyes, "Sol obstructionum." she said.

There was a shadow cast in front of her eyes, shielding her from the burning glare of the dying sun. It protected her from the worst of it, but she dared not turn her back to the sun. "Steward?" she called out, "Steward are you hurt?"  
Getting to the Steward's desk, Hermione almost dropped her wand at the sight of the steward's ashen remains.  
"Oh god no!" 

Racing out of the room, she slapped her hand over the button that closed the door and turned to run back to the main viewing gallery, running into the Doctor and Jabe. "There you are!" he greeted, catching the look on her face, his smile vanished, "what's up?"

"The Steward is _dead_!" she breathed, Jabe caught her and held her up.  
"I was following you, then I smelt something, so I went to see what it was," she said quickly, "I got to the Steward's room and saw s-smoke coming from the room, I-I opened the door and the sun shields in the room were down," she took another breath, heaved out a sob and continued, "I managed to cast a spell to protect me from the sun, went in to find the Steward in case he was hurt and all I saw was a pile of _dusty clothes_!"

Her breathing was fast as she fought back sobs. Black leather was a cool welcome to her still burning face, "alright, now. It's okay. Come on. you can come with us." the Doctor soothed, giving her a reassuring squeeze before guiding her along with Jabe.

They reached a maintenance duct and the Doctor stopped for a second. "Come here, Hermione, let's have a look at that." 

Hermione frowned, then winced. Putting a hand to her face, she was was stopped as her fingers grazed her forehead. "What is it?"  
Jabe held up her 'metal machine', it's blank screen showing off blistered skin from a _very_ bad sunburn, "huh, I was wondering why my head was itchy. Ow!" The Doctor had pointed his sonic screwdriver at her head. "What are you doing?" 

"Fixing it, that's going to leave a small scar at the worst part of it, but I can, at least, fix the most of it." he explained.  
It was an odd sensation, feeling one's skin fix itself in quick time. Hermione winced, then the whirring of the screwdriver stopped. "There you go. All better." 

Putting her hand to her head, Hermione felt nothing. No blisters, no red hot skin, nothing. "Thank you." she smiled, "in here then?" she pointed to the maintenance duct.  
"So, Jabe." Hermione asked as they were a ways in, "what brings you to the destruction of the Earth?"

"Respect for my ancestors." she replied, the two females looked at the Doctor as he scoffed.

"You don't believe her?" Hermione asked.

"She's got a huge net worth, forests all over the universe. Remember what I told you when we first got here? Everyone here is filthy rich." he explained, looking back over his shoulder at them, smirking at Jabe as he did.

"All the same, Hermione," Jabe offered, "we respect the Earth as family, Mankind is only one of many species that evolved from the Earth. My ancestors were transplanted from the earth below. I am a descendant of the tropical rainforest." 

"Oh wow, that's an impressive ancestry." Hermione replied.

There was beeping noise from the access panel the Doctor was tinkering with as Jabe asked, "what about your ancestry, Doctor?"  
Hermione saw the Doctor stiffen, there was a haunted look in his eyes as Jabe went on. "Perhaps _you_ could tell a story or two." she pulled out her 'metal machine'.  
"Perhaps a man only enjoys trouble when there's nothing else left. I _scanned_ you earlier. The metal machine had trouble identifying your species." Hermione looked at the scanner screen, it showed floral readings that she assumed Jabe could read.  
"It refused to admit your existence. And even when it _named_ you, I wouldn't believe it. But it was right. I know where you're from. Forgive me for intruding, but it's remarkable that you even _exist_. I just wanted to say how sorry I am." 

She placed a hand over his, Hermione left them be for a moment, pushing the door open to go in first. "Oh _WOW_!" she exclaimed at the sight before her.

The engine room was huge, and a propeller fan was turning with a **thrump, thrump, thrump**.  
"Oh very nice," the Doctor came in behind her. "Very retro."

Hermione shivered, it was a bit cold in that room, the fan acting as a giant air conditioning unit. She made her way over to a panel, "this what you're looking for, Doctor?"

He opened it up, to reveal a small moving object inside. It was a mechanical spider, it's domed shape reminding her of a miniature version of the Martians from War of the Worlds. It shone it's red light in her face and leapt at her. She screamed and hopped back, bumping into the Doctor as she did so; he pulled her back.  
The metal spider tried to escape, scuttling up the wall, Jabe lassoed is with something hidden under her skirt.  
"Hey," the Doctor said, impressed, "nice liana." He continued to ask questions, scanning the spider.

"What does it do?" Hermione aksed.

"Sabotage," the Doctor replied, the over head announcement stated that Earth Death was in ten minutes, "and the temperature was about to skyrocket." 

Hermione went cold, "oh my god, _Rose_!" Hermione took off at a sprint back the way she had come, almost bowling into the group of little blue people outside the Steward's Office. Skidding to a stop, she turned back to see the Doctor and Jabe stop at the door, the Doctor checking the panel in the wall.

"There's another sun filter about to fail, come on!" Hermione shot after him, heading back to the same room she had met Rose in, "anyone in there?" The Doctor called.

"Get me out!" 

"Rose!" Hermione panicked, hammering on the door. _Urgh! Apparation _would_ be the only thing I _can't_ do!_ she thought.

After a little hysterical banter, the door had become jammed, "don't move, Rose, come on you!" Hermione looked despairingly at the door with Rose left behind on the other side, before running after the Doctor. 

As the two of them entered, Hermione heard Jabe explaining that the spiders had infiltrated the entire facility. Blame was thrown around, with Cassandra throwing blame on the Face of Boe, but Hermione had other ideas.  
So to, it appeared, did the Doctor.  
"Someone bought their little pet on board, let' see who it belongs to." He placed the spider on the floor and it scuttled away, first to Cassandra, then to the Adherence of the Repeated Meme.

"J'accuse!" cried Cassandra.

The Doctor turned to Hermione and leant down to whisper in her ear, "go pull it's arm off." 

Hermione looked mortified at the idea, but a look in the Doctor's eyes told her there was something more to this. Going over to them, she heard the Doctor speak. "That's all very well, but it's a bit _obvious_ when you think about it." he nodded at Hermione, who took hold of an arm and pulled, holding it at arms length until she saw that it, too, was a machine.

"They were just an idea..." she reasoned, "that's what a meme is!" she said, excited. Turning to look down at the little metal spider, she nudged it with her foot, "go on, Jimbo, go to master."

Unsurprisingly, it went over to Cassandra. "I bet you are the bookworm of the school."

Hermione laughed, "yep! That's me, and I'm _proud_ of it!" she pulled a random wire and the Adherence of the Repeated Meme collapsed.

As Hermione made her way back to the Doctor, Cassandra's attendants stood ready to fire at her, "oooh what are you going to do, _moisturise_ me?" she joked, finally reaching the Doctor.

"With Acid." Cassandra stated. "It's too late, to stop me, bushy hair! My spiders have taken control of the entire facility."

"Bit stupid to sabotage the ship with you still on board," the Doctor invited.

"Oh I am sorry, I know teleportation devices are forbidden, but... well I'm _such_ a naughty girl! Spiders, activate!" there was a series of explosions felt in the facility, Hermione looked back at the Doctor in shock.

"Come on, we can stop it manually! Jabe come with us!" The Doctor turned to everyone else, "the rest of you, just _chill_." 

"Really?!" Hermione called out as she and Jabe raced after him, "chill?!" 

"What, didn't you like that?"

"Oh no, _very_ appropriate!" Hermione scolded as she came to a stop outside the maintenance duct, allowed the Doctor and Jabe through first.  
"Oh typical."

"Guess where the switch is." The Doctor said, looking behind him, "aha! Here!" he pulled on a lever and the rotating fans slowed down, only to speed up again as soon as he let go. 

Hermione reached for the level and pushed it down, wooden hands joined her, "what are you doing?" 

"Helping you," Jabe responded.

"The heat is going to flood this place," the Doctor argued, "Jabe, you're made of wood!" 

"Then stop wasting time, _Time Lord_ " 

Hermione almost let go from the shock of hearing this, despite the fact that she had no idea of the significance of this title. The Doctor nodded at the two of them, and made it past the first fan, then the second, then the third.  
"Ah!" Hermione looked at Jabe, her arms covered in flames, there was a crackle and Hermione looked down at her own hands as she watched the skin turn red and blister.  
Giving a scream, herself, Hermione was forced to let go, looking on in horror as Jabe of the Forest of Cheem, burned away, leaving only her clothes and her metal machine.  
Hermione looked over at the Doctor, wracking her brains for a magic spell she could use to help slow down the fans, but realised that even if she knew of one, her hand would not be able to hold her wand; they were dead.

She gave a cheer as -with the countdown at five- the Doctor somehow made it through the fourth fan, racing to the switch, he shouted to raise the shields, racing back to Hermione.  
"You okay?" 

Hermione stood up, her hands bleeding from the cracked skin, "I'm fine, but..." she looked down at what was left of Jabe, stooping to try to pick up the metal machine, after three attempts the Doctor picks it up for her. 

The two head back for the observation deck, Hermione saw Rose, unharmed. "Oh thank god!" Rose ran into Hermione's waiting arms. "Are you two okay?" Rose saw Hermione's hands, but the witch had the same anger in her eyes that the Doctor had in his entire being.

"Hermione's hands will heal, fortunately, as for me, I'm _bristling_ with ideas!" The Doctor went into a tirade of 'ideas', culminating in the return of Cassandra.

"Ah..." she said, "well done! Y-you've passed the test and are now welcome into the Human Club."

"People have died, Cassandra," the Doctor said, "you've murdered them."

"That depends on your definition of 'people' Doctor." Cassandra argued, "go ahead and take me to court."  
Hermione blinked, she could hear creaking, "and watch me smile and cry and flutter and-"

"-creak?" Hermione offered.

"What?"

"She said 'creak'," the Doctor replied, "you're creaking." 

"Oh sweet lord I'm drying out! Moisturise me! Where are my lovely boys!"

Hermione felt a surge of pity as Rose asked the Doctor to help her, he simply replied, "everything has its time."

"I'm to young!" the strained voice of Cassandra spoke it's last as the skin ripped apart, sending fleshy fragments everywhere.

As the shuttles disembarked, Hermione and Rose stood looking at what was left of the Earth, "no one saw it," Rose mused, "we were so busy saving ourselves that we forgot to watch..."

The Doctor came up to Hermione, "Lute and Coffa wanted you to have this, Hermione. As a gift of peace." the Doctor handed Hermione Jabe's metal machine.  
She was about to reach out for it when she remembered her hands. Looking down at them, she saw flashes of how they had burned, flashes of Jabe. 

"When my hands are healed, I want to know how to use it." she said, the Doctor nodded.

"Come on, there's something I need to show you."

The Doctor led them back into the TARDIS, when they landed, they were back on Earth, Piccadilly Circus. "My home planet is gone." he said, suddenly, "it burned. There was a war and we lost."

"What about your people?" Rose asked.

"I'm a Time Lord," he answered, "my planet was called Gallifrey, I am the last of my kind. That's why I travel alone... it's because there _is_ no one else."

"There's us." Hermione piped up.

"You've seen how dangerous it is out there, don't you want to go home?" the Doctor offered.

As Rose and Hermione looked at each other, they both sniffed, that heavenly scent of "chips." Hermione groaned, her stomach growling, looking back at Rose she grinned. "We want chips!"

"I've got no money." the Doctor said sheepishly.

"Okay, tightwad, before you get us back in that box, we're going to get chips." Rose sniggered, clutching one arm as Hermione -hands now healed to a nice scar- clutched on the other. 

Grinning like idiots, they went to the nearest chip shop, Hermione looked at her reflection in a nearby window as she passed and thought, _it has been years since I have felt this happy_!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right that's episode 2 done.
> 
> Next chapter goes off script, as in, there is no episode of it!!
> 
> As always, review!! Tell me what you think!!


	7. TARDIS Tantrums

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aboard the TARDIS, the girls try to familiarise themselves with the apparently sentient machine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little interval between adventures.  
> I know Hermione isn't a legilimens (that's telepath for all you Muggles out there) and she hates Divination with a passion, but I'd like to think that she has a mild form of telepathy... oh and it _will_ grow stronger, just not going to tell you when ;-)

"Cheers mate!" Rose called handing Hermione her bag of chips, the Doctor having taken his first.

"I never really understand humans and chips." the Doctor mused, Hemione reached around him for the vinegar.

The chips didn't last long as the three of them walked through Piccadilly Circus, chatting away and taking it easy after the stress of watching the Earth, when Hermione looked at the local newspaper stand and had an idea. "Can I take you both somewhere? There's something I need to get."  
She watched the Doctor and Rose exchange a look before nodding. "Great! Come on." She led them down a back alley and to the left. Coming out of a market street, she smiled.  
"Come on, you two!" she grinned, dashing across the street and opening the door.

"Whoa, have we gone back in time?" the Doctor asked, looking around with interest.

Hermione chuckled, "not exactly. Welcome to the Leaky Cauldron."

"Issat you, miss Granger?" hearing a familiar voice, Hermione turned and smiled.

"Good," she checked her watch, "morning, Tom!"

Leading the three through the pub, Hermione came out of the back door. "A brick wall..." Rose was looking at Hermione as if she had three heads as she pulled out her wand and traced her wand tip over the bricks above the bin - three up, two across - and tapped the correct brick. "Oh my god!" 

The Doctor and Rose stood back, varying degrees of shock on their faces, "Doctor, Rose," Hermione spun round to face them, wide grin and arms held out wide, "welcome to Diagon Alley!"

"What _is_ this place?" Rose asked, looking around her.

"This is where I come before the start of every year, to gather my school supplies. I wanted to show you both _my_ world." Hermione was looking at the pair, wringing her hands as nerves began to set in.

The Doctor had a grin on his face, "this place is something else," he turned to face Hermione, "where to first?"

Rose chuckled, "yeah, come on, Hermione. You're turn to be tour guide!" Rose hooked her arm through Hermione's and nudged her. "No need to be nervous."

Hermione thought for a moment. "I actually need to go there, first." She pointed at Ollivander's Wand shop. "I need to make sure Cassandra didn't frazzle the core of my wand."  
The trio headed for there first, Hermione feeling as though she was being watched.  
"Mr Ollivander?" She called out into the dingy shop. "It's Hermione Granger, I need to ask you something!" 

"One moment, Miss Granger!" the elderly wandmaker shuffled out a second later.  
"What seems to be the problem?"

"Well, sir, my wand as recently been exposed to a high level of heat," she pulled out her wand, "I want to make sure the core is not damaged."  
Handing her wand to Ollivander, she became tense.

"It'll take me some time to find that out, my dear. If you could return in an hour, I'll give it a maintenance check."

Hermione felt her colour disappear, "an hour?"

"I understand your concern, but I'm sure you can find something to pass the time. I promise you it will take no longer than an hour." Nodding Hermione turned to leave, "oh just one more question," she stopped at the door and looked back, "in being exposed to this high heat level, did you cast a spell?"

She nodded, "yes, sir. It was a shade spell."

"Which one?"

"Sol obstructionum."

The old man nodded, "right then. I will not ask how you eluded the underage wizardry act, your wand ought to tell me that, I just wanted to make sure there would be no nasty surprises." he smiled and waved them off.

As the door closed, the Doctor turned to Hermione. "You okay?"

"Not really. I couldn't have picked a worse time to give away my wand..." she heaved a sigh and looked at the apothecary. "Might as well stock up on everything whilst I'm here. Whoa!" an owl landed on Hermione's shoulder, holding a letter on it's leg. "Get that for me, will you, Rose?"

"Erm..." Rose stayed at arm's length as she undid the package and handed it to Hermione, who petted the owl and opened it.  
"How'd you know that was for you?" Rose asked.

"Owl post is only delivered to the true recipient, no one else... ooh!" she squealed, "our timing is _perfect_ , it's my Hogwarts letter, my book list, train ticket and... oh. My. _God_!" she pulled out a crimson and gold shield, the word Prefect inscribed on it.

The Doctor took the badge and the letter off of her, the owl hopping onto his arm as he passed. "Hello there," he greeted, "Prefect... nice!" he looked over the letter, "some complicated books in here."

"They're not really that complicated, I usually spend my summer days reading them that much I can recite them by heart by term." she gave a longing look back at the wand shop and heaved a sigh. "Come on, might as well buy it all whilst I'm here."

An hour really did fly by, with Hermione explaining the war that everyone was denying, the inner workings of Diagon Alley, telling them to stay away from Nocturne Alley, getting ice cream, books, robes and the like until she looked at her watch to see the time.  
"Okay, just need to pop back to Ollivander's to get my wand and then we can go."

"Ah, miss Granger! I have good news!" Ollivander greeted her with a smile, "come in, Doctor and Miss Tyler, please!"

"How did you know who we are?" the Doctor asked, his defences going up.

"Oh, Miss Granger's wand told me." Ollivander rubbed his hands together a gentle yet excited smile on his elderly face. "A time traveller... that explains why she wasn't caught using her magic, you see." he handed Hermione back her wand. "Miss Granger's wand it a new model, I crafted it myself. As such, she could - for example - go back to any time before she was born and use her wand without any repercussions due to the wand not being registered in that era." he gave a chuckle, "no matter _how many times_ you went back to that same era!"

The Doctor hummed in thought, "what about when she's just a baby? Or even a time from _before_ she got her wand?"

"Ah, now _then_ you'd have a problem," Ollivander replied, "her magic won't be traced up until the day she is born."

"What about the future?" Rose asked.

"Clearly not, if I haven't been arrested yet," Hermione joked.

"Well, yeah, but you would have been dead by that point anyway, I was thinking a future where you're still alive."

"Provided she is 17 years of age and older, I should see no problems." Ollivander reassured. "Now, I've cleaned your wand for you, fine turned it and strengthened both the core and the wood, it will protect you, no matter what you may face."

"Thank you, Mr. Ollivander." she pulled out the right amount of money for the service only to have Ollivander hand it back.

"On the house, my dear. You go and have fun!"

They left Diagon Alley with arms full of supplies and books. "Well," said the Doctor as they entered the TARDIS, "that was actually very entertaining, thank you, Hermione."

"You're welcome. Now there's just the problem of _where_ I'm going to put all of this." Hermione looked around the console room, the Doctor chuckled.

"Come on, then. I'll show you where you can sleep." He led the way out of the console room and down the corridor.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They had been wandering around for about ten minutes when the Doctor stopped and heaved a sigh. "What's wrong?" Rose asked, "lost your way?" she joked.

The Doctor gave a wry smile, "not exactly, no. It's the TARDIS. She's not being very cooperative." 

As the Doctor explained, Hermione felt a white hot pain shoot up her spine and into her head, _**YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE! I DO NOT WANT YOU HERE!**_  
Hermione keeled to the side, landing on the wall, her eyes squeezed shut. _**I do not like humans! I do not like you!**_

"Alright, I get the _hint_!" Hermione shouted, not paying any attention to the other two who were now looking at her strangely.

"What's the matter with you?" Rose asked, pulling Hermione upright.

The witch in question looked at the Doctor before the pain in her head blinded her, she was only aware of voices around her. "She's talking to the TARDIS." 

_**Get out! I do not want you here! The blonde is not welcome! She is human! You are human! You are strange! You are a threat!**_ The TARDIS continued to scream.

Hermione blinked, the pain and blindness disappearing suddenly. "That's enough, Old Girl. Leave her alone." The Doctor's voice was gentle. "Hermione's not a threat. Neither is Rose."   
Breathing hard, Hermione looked up at the Doctor's now blurring face.

"You mean, your ship can hurt us?!" Rose's voice sounded far away.

"It seems Hermione is..." that was all she heard as the blackness around her vision took over and she fell unconscious.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Hermione opened her eyes to find herself stood in the grounds of Hogwarts. "That's odd," she said. Her mind knew that term wasn't due to start for another three weeks.  
Walking towards the castle, she was aware of two things, this first was that she was barefoot and the ground was soft, the second was that she was in a v-neck floor length, crimson dress, it was made of chiffon and felt like wading through water. The sequin flowers on the bodice of the dress was made up of golden sequins, which reached over her shoulders and turned to a crimson cape of chiffon.   
"Why am I wearing this?" She was supposed to be thinking these words, but they were spoken aloud. "What is going on?"   
As she continued up to the castle, she turned to face the Forbidden Forest, a long, lonely howl sounded in the distance. She had turned back to face the entrance doors, her hand on the cold stone.  
Then, the howl sounded again. She sent a longing look into the warmth of the fires inside the castle, turned to face the forest, bunched up her skirt and ran into the dark forest._

_She wasn't out of breath when she reached the treeline. She dropped her skirts and placed a hand on a nearby tree, it's bark felt so real considering this was a dream. The howl sounded again and her feet carried her into the dark.  
The trees disappeared, all familiarity disappeared, she spun in a circle to find herself now in a dark, tiny room; still in the dress. There was a door behind her and it was closing.  
Racing for the door, it closed on her. She banged her fists against the door, now turned wall. "Let me out of here!"   
There was a golden light coming from behind her. Hermione turned, so did the light. Looking down at her hands, she saw the light bouncing off of shaking hands, "it's coming from the dress..." she mused._

_There was a snarl directly in front of her, a wolf stood in front of her, it's hackles raised, golden eyes glowing in anger; hatred evident in it's eyes as it lunged at her, it's teeth around her throat, choking the scream that was forming._

"AHHH!" Hermione shrieked, sitting bolt upright, before leaning over the edge of the bed and vomiting.  
Retching her last, she picked up her wand off of the nightstand and got rid of the evidence.   
"Okay..." she panted, "divination is _not_ my forte." But she would be lying to herself if she wasn't curious about that dream and its meaning.  
She blinked, "hold on," she looked at her wand, "this was on a nightstand... am I in a bedroom?"

"Yes, you are," Hermione jumped as the Doctor flicked the light on in a room, identical in décor to the console room. "You gave us a bit of a fright." He came to sit on the edge of the bed and placed a hand on her forehead. "Feeling better?"

"Y-yeah... how long have I been out for?"

"Three days. You were feverish." The Doctor answered, handing her a glass of water. "Tossed and turned the entire time, so it must have been one hell of a dream. I've only just got Rose to bed." 

She groaned, "I am _so_ sorry. This wasn't what you signed up for." 

The Doctor chuckled, "hey, don't worry about it. At least you got some sleep." he ruffled her hair, "we'll let Rose sleep for a bit and then carry on, eh?" 

Hermione nodded, "sounds good." she got up and tested her feet. "I think your ship and I need a talk. Do you have a library?" 

The Doctor frowned, "yeah, come on I'll take you." As they left, Hermione picked up her stack of new books.  
He left Hermione at the door, "call me if she starts playing up, okay?"

Giving a nod, Hermione wandered into a room that was easily heaven for her.  
 _ **I have nothing to say to you.**_

"That's fine, you can just listen." Hermione retorted, finding a high backed armchair and a small table, both were covered in dust. "No one has been in here for a while," she stated.

_**Others that have been before you have preferred the practical adventures to the written words.** _

Hermione frowned, "that's actually _really_ sad. You have a beautiful aesthetic in here. Perfect for a bookworm like me." Pulling out her wand, Hermione tapped the table and the chair, removing the dust, and placed the books in her hands on the table.

_**Leave those there and you will not find them again.** _

Hermione smirked, "I think I know why you don't like me," silence followed her statement, so she continued. "you're frightened of something. Something that only a human can do. What is it?"

_**What makes you think I am afraid of you pathetic little apes?**_  
Hermione got the feeling she had offended the TARDIS.

She smiled at the floor, giving a soft chuckle.  
"That wasn't what I asked. I asked why you perceive _me_ as a greater threat than Rose. Why am I so strange to you, when Rose and I are the same species."

The TARDIS was silent, Hermione sat down in the chair and picked up her first book, deciding to wait to hear the TARDIS's answer. _**It is your future that frightens me, not you yourself.**_   
The TARDIS seemed hesitant in her words, choosing them carefully.  
Hermione chose not to ask any further questions, instead, she waited for the ship herself to tell her. 

She didn't have to wait long, _**Whilst I can see the the future of both you and Rose Tyler, until you both die, there is something about your futures that I cannot see. That is what frightens me. All I get -from you in particular- is emotions, feelings and thoughts. It is as though I, myself, have hidden that particular part of your futures from myself. Which in itself means that they are fixed points in time and I play a part in them. This is what I am afraid of, why I do not what you both here, why I do not want you here. That is my answer.**_

Hermione closed her book and looked up at the intricate ceiling, "you truly are a marvel, Old Girl. I think, if it is okay with you, I would like to come in here and study, would that be okay?"  
The TARDIS didn't answer, instead a book landed in her lap. "The Mystery of Edwin Drood, by Charles Dickens."

_**This is my answer to you.** _

Hermione smiled, settled down into the chair and opened the book.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, that was a long one... difficult too lol.
> 
> Okay, slight change in the timelines here;
> 
> Hermione is about to go into her 5th year of Hogwarts (Umbridge!), she will still travel with the Doctor, I will make it clearer in future chapters as to how her 5th, 6th and 7th years will pan out (7th year is going to be even stranger lol)
> 
> Anyway, kudos and comment my loyal readers, I hope you enjoyed this little break.
> 
> Next up is Dickens!


	8. A Dickensian Tale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Hermione and the TARDIS have a chat and Hermione meets Charles Dickens

"Hermione, are you still in here?" The Doctor called.

Hermione had finished the Mystery of Edwin Drood and had now moved on to her actual school books, with the TARDIS asked her the odd question as to what terms meant or what spell did.  
She was a curious ship and it seemed, -to Hermione, at least- that the TARDIS didn't really know a lot about humans in general, despite the Doctor bringing others through her doors before Hermione and Rose.

"Yeah, I'm here!" she answered, nose still in her Standard Book of Spells Grade 5, "just let me finish this chapter and I'll be right out!"

_**I shall reiterate my earlier statement of you not finding those books again, should you leave them on this table.** _

Hermione laughed and stood up, "I'll take my chances, Old Girl. See you later!"  
The TARDIS hadn't exactly warmed up to Hermione, it was more like the relationships that she had with all of her peers at school, they tolerated her but they didn't _like_ her.  
"So where are we going?"

"Come here, quick!"  
Hermione raced to the console and allowed the Doctor to place her hands on a switch and a lever, "hold that switch down and when I say pull the lever down."  
Hermione waited for the instruction. "Now!" She released the switch and pulled the lever, "Right, we've had a look at the future, let's have look at the past, next. How does 1860 sound?" The Doctor asked.

"What happened in 1860?" Rose asked.

"No idea, let's find out!"

After a bumpy ride that -this time- sent Hermione crashing into the rails behind her, knocking the wind right out of her, "blimey!" she breathed.

"Give the man a medal, I've done it!" The Doctor declared. "Out there is Naples, 1860, December 24th."

"Christmas Eve?!" Hermione gaped.

"Yep. All yours. Although, you both might want to get changed first, can't have you causing a riot." The Doctor stated.  
Rose asked what was wrong with what they were wearing as the Doctor gave them directions to the wardrobe.

They had no problem finding the wardrobe, it was behind a pair of wooden doors, Hermione looked at Rose and grinned, "one,"

"Two, three!" Together, the girls opened the doors and Hermione felt her mouth fall through the floor into the vast regions of space.  
"Come on!" Rose grabbed Hermione's hand and they wandered through the clothes.

The room was vast, like the library, covered floor to ceiling in rails of clothes from different times, planets and cultures. Hermione found herself awestruck. She wasn't a fashionista, she preferred comfort to style, but all of the colours in this wardrobe were stunning. Blues, greens, browns, yellows...  
"Which way, d'you reckon?" Rose asked.

"I say we go this way." Hermione pointed down a corridor filled with dresses. 

"Good idea." they wandered in, picking out dresses to get closer looks at, "how are you feeling?"

Hermione, who had been admiring a Greek styled dress in the floor length mirror, watched Rose come up behind her. "I'm better now. Don't know what it was."

Rose wrapped her arms around Hermione's waist and hugged her tight, "the Doctor says you're mildly telepathic, that the TARDIS was talking to you."

"Talking is putting it lightly, she was screaming at me." Hermione retorted. 

"Really? Hmm." Rose hummed in thought as the two continued, after a few minutes she asked, "do you think you'll stick with this?"

Hermione looked at Rose, "what do you mean?"

"School. Do you think you'll leave here to go back?"

Hermione's arm dropped from the railing, cocking her hip to the side, Hermione looked at Rose through a loose strand of hair, "do you _want_ me to go?"

She watched as Rose spun around, shock evident in her eyes, "what? No! No, I was just curious, that's all." Hermione obviously didn't look convinced, because Rose rolled her eyes. "I don't want you to go, it's just that you have exams this year, right?"

Hermione huffed, "don't remind me! I am _so_ far behind on my studies it is unbelievable!" looking over at Rose, Hermione sighed, "I might just ask someone from the Order to make a mirror image of me that allows me to learn away from home with only those in the know... _in the know_. That way I can still be a model student _and_ travel with you... though I might ask the Doctor to let me go back for the Sorting Ceremony so that I can inform _someone_ of what I'm doing... what?"

Rose was stood there with a wide smile on her face, "you're babbling, you know that, right?"

Hermione laughed, "shut up!"  
The two continued on their search down the dress isle before Hermione felt a tug in the back of her head. "Rose, over here!"

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Okay, whose idea was it to wear a whalebone corset with this thing?!" Hermione complained, "I can't _breathe_!"

Looking over at a chuckling Rose, Hermione took a deep breath, "you look lovely, though." Rose comforted. Rose had found a wine coloured satin skirt, black satin bodice and a velvet cape, the heels she wore were standard Victorian heels.

"Thanks, you look good in that colour." Hermione answered, adjusting her skirts.  
She, too, had gone for the off the shoulder bodice, black velvet, the skirt was emerald green, there was a little jewellery box full of silver crystals and jewels, waving her wand, Hermione lifted the loose stones and embedded them into the black bodice, creating a tree shape that climbed her bust and shoulders.  
Picking up the jewellery, she chuckled. "Wrong house, but I'll roll with it."

"What?" Rose asked, putting on her own jewellery.

"The House that I belong to at Hogwarts. It's colours are red and gold, with the animal effigy of a lion, the colours that I am currently wearing are the colours of Slytherin, their animal effigy is a snake," she leant up to Rose, "look at the shape of the earrings and the necklace."

She saw Rose's reflection as she looked, "a snake... again, why is that a problem?" 

"Oh it's not," Hermione relied, straightening up, "I just found it funny, is all. Being born from a muggle family, Slytherin is the one house I _wouldn't_ be welcome in."

"How come?" Rose asked as they made their way back down to the console room. 

"Because they are all either pedigree pure bloods or pedigree half-bloods, either way, _not_ my blood."

"That's awful."

"That's my school." she sighed, "you go first. I need to readjust my bustle bow." Rose chuckled, entering first.

Hermione stiffened as she felt a different set of hands swat hers away. _**Do not turn around.**_ It was the TARDIS.

"Thank you." she made her way out as the Doctor come up from under the grating, having been working on repairs. "Ta-da!"

"You both look gorgeous..." he looked down at the wire in his hands, "considering you're both human."   
Hermione ignored the fact that the compliment was aimed mainly at Rose (she wasn't really surprised) and smiled.

"Hold on, you had the first one!" Rose called as Hermione made her way to the door, "this one's mine!"   
Hermione let Rose rush past her, the Doctor joining her at the top of the entryway.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, offering his arm to help her down. "Any better?" 

Hermione nodded, "yeah, I'm sorry for worrying you."

"That's okay. How was the library?" They stopped at the doorway as Rose gingerly stepped out.

"It's fantastic!" she said, the two shared a look before laughing.

"Come on then, _history_!" The Doctor offered his arms to the two of them and they set off.

"God rest ye Merry Gentlemen, may nothing you dismay," Hermione, grinning like an idiot, let go of the Doctor's arm and spun around, looking around at the architecture. Hopping over to the carol singers, Hermione felt her feet slip out from under her in the snow and she fell with a squeak, laughing at her own idiocy before realising that she hadn't even hit the ground.

"Careful, miss." a strange voice purred in her ear, "you must come from somewhere with very little snow if you're excited by all of this." 

Allowing herself to be hauled up, she patted herself down before giving a small curtsey, "thank you, sir." she said, pulling off a similar accent to her school bully, Draco Malfoy, perfectly (well she was dressed like a noble lady, after all). Looking up at her saviour she was struck by how blue his eyes were. His black hair and pale complexion, coupled with his clothing, told Hermione she was before a nobleman.  
"Please, pardon my giddiness, my lord. I'm not usually well enough to travel and therefore I miss out on all of this." she waved her hand before the carollers who were still singing.

The nobleman smiled softly, "that is _such_ a pity, you really do seem to be enjoying the snow." he looked around, "where are you're friends? The ones you broke away from?"  
Hermione froze, realising that she'd lost Rose and the Doctor!  
"Don't worry, I'll help you find them." he offered her arm, "I am Vincent, by the way, Vincent Phantomhive."

"Hermione, my lord. Hermione Granger." she reciprocated.

"A pleasure," The two walked for a moment before she heard screaming, "What on earth... oh wait, miss Granger!" 

Hermione, who had run off in the direction of the screaming, turned on her heel and curtseyed, "I think I've found my friends, my lord, it really _was_ a pleasure to meet you!" she turned and ran, watching as a couple were wrestling with someone into a hearse, spying a wine red skirt and blond hair, Hermione raised her wand. "OI! Get away from her!" the two closed the doors and got up onto the seat, "Stupefy!" in her haste she missed, "ROSE!" She cried.

"Hermione!" Spinning round, she saw the Doctor sliding up to her, "did you see them?" 

"Yes, they went that way!"  
There was a blue flame-like light heading for a nearby light, under which stood Mr. Phantomhive, who ducked to avoid it.  
"Gas?" she enquired, looking at the Doctor.

"They're made of gas!" the Doctor exclaimed, taking Hermione's hand. "Come on, get in the carriage, we've got to get Rose!" 

The coach driver didn't move, apparently the gentleman that had been following the Doctor was the person that particular carriage was meant for. The Doctor told him to hurry up and get in, "And who are you then?!" Hermione snapped, her anger getting the better of her as the man got in.

"I _child_ am Charles Dickens!" he responded.

Hermione's brain stopped working. "What?" 

"Oh so _now_ you restrain your temper." he huffed.

Hermione shook her head, "Doctor, we'll _lose_ them at this rate!" 

"Who is in the hearse, if I may enquire?" 

"Rose, our friend, 19 years old and _not_ dead." Hermione answered, "they just kidnapped her." 

"Well what are we waiting for?" Charles excused himself, "faster driver! The chase is on!" 

"Oh, by the way, Hermione," the Doctor announced, "we're in 1869 and Cardiff, so I might have got it a _bit_ wrong."

Hermione burst out laughing, "do I look like I _care_? I'm having _far_ too much fun!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I think I'll leave it there for now, sorry!
> 
> The episodes are going to be made into two to three chapters depending on how I feel. If there's not much going on, then just the one chapter (for example intermittent chapters) but the ones based on episodes will most liekly be split into two chapters so that I can get good content in!


	9. Gwyneth and the Gelth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Hermione meets the Gelth.

Hermione got out of the taxi and followed the Doctor to the door of an Undertaker's parlour.  
The maid that answers the door took one look at Hermione and went white. "My master isn't in, Mr Dickens." she tried to protest. 

Hermione stopped in the doorway, a quiet howling could be heard in front of her and to her left. Following it, she heard a voice, "let me out!" 

"Rose!" Hermione called, "Doctor, I've found her!" Leading the way, Hermione pulled her wand out of her corset, " _bombarda_!" she shouted, spying Rose.

"I think this is my dance!" The Doctor stated, moving past Hermione and pulling Rose out of the grip of a corpse...

"Doctor..." Hermione was used to ghosts, but...

"This must be some sort of mesmeric presence." Charles spluttered as not one, but _two_ corpses shambled towards them.

"No it's not," the Doctor argued, "the dead are walking."

He pushed Rose behind him and in line with Hermione, who greeted her with "hi!" 

"Hi," she looked over Hermione's shoulder. "Who's your friend?" 

"Charles Dickens." Hermione and the Doctor chorused, stunning Rose into silence as the two bodies kept approaching.

"I'm the Doctor. Who are you and what do you want?" the Doctor asked.

"Failing," a choir of multiple voices spoke from the man, "Open the Rift, we are dying! We cannot sustain... ah!" with an eerie scream, the same gas ball Hermione had seen earlier flew out of the two mouths and into a nearby gas lamp. 

Hermione turned to Rose and hugged her. "Are you okay?" Receiving a nod in reply, Hermione knelt down to the bodies, touching their grey flesh. "Well, I don't think _they_ are going anywhere fast." 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few minutes later and the party was in a rather cosy yet gloomy parlour.   
Feeling cold, Hermione stood in front of the fire, her hands outstretched as she felt the blissful heat ebb and flow through her body. "Here you are, miss, sir," the maid, Gwyneth, handed both her and the Doctor cups of tea, "milk and two sugars just how you both like them."

Hermione almost dropped her cup _I didn't tell her that..._

"This is all morbid fancy!" Exclaimed Charles.

"Oh, Charles, you were there!" Hermione retorted, "you can't deny what you saw!" 

"I saw nothing, nothing but an illusion created by the breathing in of the gas!" he argued. Hermione rolled her eyes, "do not roll your eyes at me, girl. I cannot believe in this realm of fantasy."

"Says the man who has written a book about ghosts at Christmas!" Hermione snapped.

"That's enough you two," the Doctor intervened, handing Hermione back her cup. "If you're going to deny what you have seen Charles, just shut up." he turned to Mr Sneed, the Undertaker. "Tell me about the gas."

"Oh, that's new, sir. We've never seen that before."

"That means the rift is getting wider and things are starting to seep through." the Doctor drained his tea. 

"What's the rift?" Rose asked. 

"It's a tear in the fabric of time and space. It's the cause of most ghost stories." the Doctor explained.

Mr Sneed spoke up animatedly, "well, that's how I got this house so cheap, sir. Those stories go back generations. It's just what people expect from a gloomy profession such as mine." 

Dickens left the room, slamming the door behind him as he went. Hermione followed Rose out into the kitchen. "Grab a tea towel, 'Mione." Rose ordered, as she turned the tap and began washing up.

"Oh no, please, ladies, I don't mind doing it!" Gwyneth came in with a tea tray full of empty cups and pots.

"Oh, it's no bother," Hermione answered.

"Yeah," Rose chimed, "Sneed works you to death. How much does he pay you?" 

"Eight pounds a year, miss." 

Hermione dropped the plate she had been holding, catching it again before it hit the floor. " _How much_?!" she gaped. 

"I know, I'd would have been happy with six." _And I thought_ House Elves _got a rough deal._

As the conversation continued, Hermione took note of something Gwyneth said, "you've both come so far." she said it in an almost dreamy voice, "the things you've both seen, the darkness and..." the young maid stilled and fear crept into her eyes again, "the Big Bad Wolf!" 

This time, Hermione didn't catch the plate as her mind threw her back to the dream she had and the howling that had come with it. The sudden rush of memory caused her to sway into Gwyneth. "Whoa, are you okay, miss?"  
Hermione nodded, stooping to clean up her mess, "I'm sorry, if I upset you, miss. My mum told me I had to hide my gift, I've been able to do this since I was a little girl."

"And now it's getting stronger." the Doctor appeared at the door. "You've grown up on the rift, Gwyneth. I think you're the key. Come on, you can show us what to do."

"Why?" Rose asked, as Gwyneth hauled Hermione to her feet.

"We're going to have a séance,"

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hermione groaned, "Doctor do I have to do this?"

"You go to a school for stuff like this." he argued.

"Yeah and I walked out of my Divination class because it's a woolly discipline," she sniffed indignantly, "that and the teacher insulted me." That last part was met with a round of chuckles.

"You go to a school, miss?" Gwyneth asked, her eyes wide. "Oh yes, I can see it." Hermione stilled, unfolding her arms, "the great vast green grounds with it's vast lake and mighty castle... Hogwarts... School of.... Witchcraft and Wizardry..."

" _What_?!" exclaimed Dickens. 

Hermione shook her head, "honestly, I would call you a legilimens if you were a witch." Huffing, Hermione sat the other side of the Doctor, " _fine_. I'll do this."

The group joined hands and Hermione felt silly. "Can you hear me, spirits? Come, speak to us, so that we may relieve you of your burden."

There was a tingle in Hermione's fingertips, it spread up her arms and into her lungs. "There! Above us!" she exclaimed quietly, "I don't believe what I'm _seeing_!" 

A ghostly figure appeared behind Gwyneth, it spoke through her. " _Pity us. Pity the Gelth!_ " the voices spoke from one figure, they sounded childlike. 

"What do you want us to do?" the Doctor asked, Hermione gripped his hand tighter as a primeval fear gripped her, she felt him squeeze back.

" _Take the girl to the Rift and make the bridge, so that we may cross._ " it replied, " _we are so few now, since the war._ "

"What war?" Charles asked, Hermione took note of how wide his eyes were.

" _The Time War._ " it replied, " _The Universe convulsed and the Time War raged, invisible to smaller species, but devastating to higher beings. We are trapped in this gaseous state._ "

"And that's why they need the bodies," Hermione mused.

"But we can't just give them the dead, it's not right." Rose protested.

"Why not?" The Doctor asked, "it could save their lives."

"Open the rift!" the Gelth cried, "let the Gelth through, help us! Pity the Gelth!"   
Gwyneth keeled forwards, her head hitting the table with a thump.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"There we go, sweetheart, you just rest." Hermione soothed as Rose handed Gwyneth a cup of tea. 

"My angels, miss. They need me." Gwyneth protested, trying to sit up, falling back against the chair with a tired "oof."

"They _do_ need you, Gwyneth." The Doctor announced, "you are their only chance of survival."

Rose stood up, rounding on the Doctor. "Leave her alone, she's exhausted."

"Rose," Hermione also stood up, "you have that donor card, right?" 

" _That_ is different."

Hermione folded her arms and cocked her hip to the side, an incredulous look on her face, "is it? Really?"

"Yeah, it is!" Rose snapped. 

Hermione found her temper rising. "But _is it_? Think about it. The Gelth are the donor _receiver_ , the dead bodies are no different to a donor that has suffered a fatality." Hermione snapped back.

"Thank you!" The Doctor exclaimed, "come on, Rose, why can't you see it? Just think about it like a form of recycling." 

Hermione closed her eyes at that image, "okay, _that_ doesn't help." she chuckled. Turning back to Rose, she looked into her friend's eyes. "Seriously, though. I _do_ understand why you're against this Rose, but at the same time, Gwyneth can help _save_ a species from _extinction_!"

Rose was clearly not budging, "I don't care, they're not using her!" 

"Don't I get a say in this, Miss?" a quiet voice of Gwyneth rang out in the silence that followed, "they are my angels, after all. I want to help them. I'm not as stupid as you think."

"That's not fair!" Rose protested, "they could _kill_ you!" 

"Then I shall join my family in heaven for helping these lost souls." 

That seemed to be the end of the argument as Charles helped Gwyneth get unsteadily to her feet. "This is incredible," he seemed to be vibrating with excitement. "Ghost that are not ghosts!" 

Gwyneth took a deep breath. "What can I do, Doctor?"

"Nothing, if you don't want to." 

"I want to help my angels!" she replied, her eyes were steady, determined. Hermione was impressed with how well this mere maid was coming to grips with a world that even _she_ was struggling to comprehend.

The Doctor was deep in thought, "Mr. Sneed, where have the ghosts been seen the most?"

"That would be the morgue, sir." 

"Why did you need to know that?" Hermione asked.

"It's the weakest point of the Rift." he explained.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The group all entered the morgue, it was dark and dingy, it was also surprisingly dry considering it was a glorified cellar.   
"Doctor, I think the room is getting colder," Charles announced, Hermione let out a breath and saw a puff of steam billow out in front of her.

" _You have come! Come to help!_ " The Gelth appeared, causing Hermione to jump. " _Praise him! Praise the Doctor!_ "

Gwyneth stepped forward, "it's there, sir. In the centre of the archway." Gwyneth made to step out, Hermione grabbed her hand out of reflex. "What is it, miss?"

Hermione chose to answer by speaking to the Gelth. "Promise us, the girl remains _unharmed_!" 

" _We have so little time left! Hurry! Pity the Gelth!_ " Hermione's gut twisted, telling her something was off, but Gwyneth gave her hand a squeeze, before stepping into the centre of the archway.

Gwyneth seemed to go limp, like a puppet on strings that was made to stand by the master. "Doctor..." Hermione wanted to say something, but the words got stuck in her throat as the Gelth spoke once more.

" _Bridgehead established. Now, we come!_ " the blue gentle Gelth turned red. Hermione had her answer. " _We descend in force!_ "

"You said you were few in numbers!" Charles exclaimed, shock and horror evident in his voice and on his face, Hermione glared at the Gelth.

" _We all need the corpses! Earth shall belong to the Gelth!_ "

"I'm sorry, Doctor, this world of yours is too much!" 

Hermione felt herself being pulled back by Charles, Rose and the Doctor were cornered behind a metal grate. "Rose!" Hermione shrieked as Charles pulled her out of the morgue. "Duck!" she pushed him to the floor as a Gelth swept over their heads. "Up! Get up, Mr. Dickens! We have to run, _now_!" 

Pulling the writer to his feet, she threw up a wall of ice to give them an extra second or two to get out of the morgue. To her surprise the man from earlier that evening was heading in their direction. "Is everything alright, miss?" he asked as she and Charles turned him around.

"Run, man!" Dickens ordered, "we are being chased by a ghost!" Hermione never gave the poor man a chance to argue as she shoved him in the same direction as Dickens.  
As she was about to make a run for it, her dress tangled around her ankles, sending her to the floor. "Miss Granger!" looking up she saw the Gelth above her.

Letting out a shriek, Hermione covered her eyes, "atmosphere hostile!" frowning, she looked up, "cannot sustain-!" the Gelth gave a cry and entered a nearby street lamp.

Dickens hauled her to her feet, she took note that the gentleman from a moment ago seemed to have taken the two of them at their words as he was nowhere to be seen. "It's the gas!" Dickens exclaimed, "come, child, we have work to do!" 

"What do you need me to do?" Hermione askesd as the two burst into the house.

"Turn _off_ the flames and turn _up_ the gas!" he cried.

Hermione frowned, then realised what that would mean, "they would all drown! Oh that is _brilliant_!" she gave a cry of elation as she and Charles raced through the house, turning off the lamps and turning up the gas, both heading to the morgue as one.

"Doctor, Rose!" She called, choking on the gas as she did. Waving her wand over her face to cover her mouth in a bubble charm, "turn off the flames and turn up the gas!"

"What so we choke to death instead?!" Rose cried, but the Doctor laughed.

"Fantastic!" 

"Am I correct, Doctor, that these creatures are made of gas?" Dickens asked, "if that is true, then if we flood the place with gas, it will draw these foul creatures from the corpses as poison in drawn from a wound!" 

Hermione turned to Gwyneth, "Gwyneth, you have to send these creatures back!" she shouted, "they _lied_ to you!" Hermione started to cough, the gas levels now that high that her magic could no longer hold it. "Please!" 

"They lied?" 

"Yes." she said, taking Gwyneth's head in her hands, "look at me. If your parents could see you, they'd give you the strength to... to..." it could have been the gas, but Hermione couldn't feel anything. Gwyneth had no pulse.

She swayed dangerously to the side, the Doctor catching her and pushing her into Charles.  
"Charles, get these two out of here, I won't leave her here, I promise." 

Rose and Hermione followed Charles out and into the cold of Cardiff.  
The Doctor appeared right behind them, Rose attempted to get back in, "Rose, she's already dead!" Hermione cried, "the Gelth killed her the moment she made the bridge!" 

The words were barely out of her mouth when the funeral parlour went up with a **BOOM**!  
"No one will ever know," Rose said wistfully as everyone got back to their feet, "a servant girl, who saved the world, no one will know."

Hermione took Rose's hand and gave it a squeeze. " _We_ will." she comforted.

A few minutes of silent walking followed the group as they made their way back to the TARDIS, Hermione kept looking around her, hoping to get a glimpse of that man again, but she had no luck.  
"I am certain, Hermione, that he got away safely." Charles comforted.

Giving only a nod, Hermione turned to him and smiled. "Thank you, Mr. Dickens. You, sir, are a marvel. And I look forward to reading Mystery of Edwin Drood." _I have every intention of reading that book again!_ she thought to herself, a new found love for the writer before her swelling inside her.

"Oh, why, thank you, Miss Granger."

"Good bye, Mr. Dickens, and a Merry Christmas." she bade him farewell, allowing Rose and the Doctor to say their goodbyes. 

She stood waiting in the console room, watching the great writer on the monitor, she was then joined by Rose and the Doctor, "let's give him one last surprise!" the Doctor announced and he pulled the lever and they watched him cry in joy at the sight of the TARDIS disappearing.

"Merry Christmas! God bless us, everyone!" She heard him cry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well here we go! A late Christmas present to my readers!! 
> 
> I'm sorry it's taken me so long to write this, but I have had a hectic time of it haha.


	10. Home Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a small reprise, Hermione and Rose return home.
> 
> However, not everything is what it seems.

"Urgh, _finally_ , I can _breathe_!" Hermione exclaimed after undoing the corset and putting her normal under garments on. "I never thought I'd enjoy twenty-first century clothing so much!"  
Rose laughed from her end of the room.  
"Still..." Hermione held up the dress, "it is a beautiful dress..."  
Putting it back in the empty slot of the railing, Hermione joined Rose at the door and they headed for the console room.

"Right, you two, if you want to take a breather before I take you both home, it'll take a bit before we get you back." the Doctor announced, his voice coming from under the floor grates once again.

"Great! I can go and collect my books from the library." Hermione stated, already on her way back out.

"That's if you can find them!" the Doctor called out.

Laughing to herself, Hermione wandered the corridors, knowing which way to go.  
Suddenly, she stopped. A howling could be heard from a different direction.

She was about to take a detour to find the source, when the TARDIS spoke to her. _**Not that way, child. There is nothing for you down there.**_

Shrugging to herself, Hermione went to the library, not wanting to push the platonic respect the witch and the ship seemed to be developing. Finding the library again, she was not surprised to see her books were missing. "Well, you did warn me." she muttered.

_**I have placed them on their own bookcase. Look for the one with a golden lion adorned.**_  
Hermione searched through the rows and rows of bookcases, finding an identical table and chair right next to a mahogany bookcase with a golden lion etched into the side.  
There, on the fifth shelf, were her school books, along with a lot of other books that she didn't remember buying.  
Upon closer inspection, Hermione noticed on the top shelf a book she hadn't read in four years;

Standard Book Spells, by Miranda Goshawk
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, by Phyllida Spore
Hogwarts: A History, by Bathilda Bagshot
Magical Theory, by Adalbert Waffling
A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration, by Emeric Switch
Magical Drafts and Potions, by Arsenius Jigger
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, by Newt Scamander
The Dark Forces, A Guide to Self Protection, by Quentin Trimble


"These are the books from my first year!" she exclaimed, looking at the shelf below she continued to gape, "second year, third year... _last_ year?!" she looked around the room, "how did you do this?"

_**Look at the shelves below.** _

She did so, reading the titles to... "sixth year books? Oh, sweet Merlin, _seventh_ year books?!" Hermione let out a laugh. "You are _amazing_ , Old Girl, you really are!"

Picking up the bag on the chair, Hermione looked inside to see her actual purchases, it was then she realised what the TARDIS had meant when she had said every book ever written. "You got copies of them... this is incredible!"  
Oh she was going to be spending _a lot_ of time in here!  
Picking up the last book she had been reading, Hermione settled down in the chair.  
There was an air of curiosity surrounding her as she read, "what is it, Old Girl?"

_**You have books for your next two years, why are you continuing to read the ones you have bought for this year?** _

Hermione looked up at the ornate ceiling, blinked a couple of times then answered, "I don't really know. I guess it's so that I have as much knowledge as I can gain from these books to help with keeping the Doctor and Rose safe."

_**Then you will require knowledge of your classes as well, correct?** _

"Yes. I suppose I shouldn't really stay..." Hermione felt a depression hit her; she didn't want to leave.

_**I can make it so that you can gain the knowledge of your peers whilst you sleep.** _

Hermione dropped the book she was holding, shock evident on her face, "y-you would do that, for me?"  
The TARDIS didn't answer, Hermione stared at the ceiling for a second before picking the book back up, "what about as I'm reading?"

_**Only in your sleep.** _

Hermione felt elated, now all she had to do was create a convincing copy of herself that no one would miss her...  
"That may be more difficult than it needs to be..." she mused.  
She knew that the Order would see through the lie, in fact, she assumed that upon her return home, she would most likely be grounded.  
These thoughts were still going through her head as she felt her eyes grow heavy.

_She was back at the castle. This time she was stood in the Gryffindor Common Room, her fellow students all around her, some studying, some lounging around, Fred and George were sat laughing with Harry, Ron and Ginny.  
Smiling, she took a step towards the group and noticed a flair of blue around her ankles.  
The dress she had worn before had gone, this one was royal blue in colour, long sleeved chiffon, the gold lace crystal tassels were in the shape of swirls, the pattern reminded her of Van Gogh's famous art piece, over her shoulders lay a fur-lined cloak and hood, she was, once again, barefoot.  
Her feet carried her away from the safety of the group, out of the Common Room, down the many staircases - all of which moved to let her go down - and into the Entrance Hall.  
The dress and cloak trailed behind her, the sound of someone calling her from above made her look back. She couldn't quite make out the words, but she knew they were meant for her. She almost turned back, but that long sad howl sounded out in the grounds.  
As before, she turned away from the safety of the school that she loved and wandered into the snow, taking note that she walked on top of snow that should be up to her knees.  
Reaching Hagrid's hut, she continued forward, into the treeline and deeper in, the snow unable to reach her. "I know there is something here I should understand, but I can't see it."  
There was a rustle to her left, a sudden wind picking up. Turning, she noted that this time there was no room, the golden lace of her dress glowed illuminating the form of a wolf, it's hackles raised, golden eyes glowing in anger; hatred evident in it's eyes as it lunged at her, it's teeth around her throat, choking the scream that was forming._

"There you go, you're okay."  
The Doctor's voice sounded above her, "You were thrashing about that much you fell out of the chair." he explained.

Hermione looked around her, placing her head in her hand, "I don't understand..."

"It's okay, it was just a dream," the Doctor reassured, "come on, up you get. We've landed."

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
With her bags of school supplies hanging off her arms, Hermione followed Rose out of the TARDIS. "What are you going to tell them?"   
Hermione thought for a second. "I could always say I'd hired you to track down my parents and Rose came with us."

"Do you think they'll buy that?" Rose asked.

Hermione just shrugged, "my lot probably won't, but Jackie might."

"Fair enough." Rose turned to leave, Hermione made to follow her, but was stopped by the Doctor.

"You dropped this in the console room." The Doctor handed her the envelope that had arrived not yesterday. "See you in a bit," catching the look on her face as she put in into her back jeans pocket, the Doctor grinned, "don't worry, I'm not going anywhere." he waved her off.

Meeting Rose at the front door to the flat, Hermione took a breath, _here goes_.  
The second the two entered the flat, Hermione shivered, a jolt of electricity coursing through her veins, _a detection charm!_ "Rose, something's off." she said.

The sound of a mug breaking brought her attention to the shocked face of Jackie Tyler, "oh my God!" Jackie's voice cracked, "you're back, you're _alive_!"  
Hermione and Rose found themselves wrapped in a tight hug. 

_This isn't good_ , "we haven't been gone long." Hermione tried.

"Actually," Hermione and Rose turned to see the Doctor in the doorway, "I made a bit of a mistake, you've been gone twelve _days_ , not hours."

Hermione balked, "what?!" Rose exclaimed.

A crack like a gunshot sounded outside the door, "Doctor!" Hermione reached out and grabbed his arm, pulling him in behind her, throwing up a wall of wicca magic to bar a stunning spell, glaring at her old teacher... sort of. "Mad-Eye." she greeted coldly.

"Granger?!" clearly Mad-Eye Moody had not been expecting her.

"You were expecting Voldemort?" she offered sarcastically.

"That's enough cheek, Miss Granger." Snape appeared behind Moody.

A deafening silence fell over the flat, giving Hermione a chance to check over the Doctor, Rose and Jackie; no injuries, though the Doctor appeared surprised to have been pulled suddenly.  
"Oi, watch where you're pointing that thing!" Rose broke the silence, Hermione turned to see the tip of Snape's wand inches from her nose, she blinked.

"Revelio." His drawl made her shiver in recollection of Cassandra, There was a moment, "nothing, from any of them." he said, "they are who and what they appear to be."

"Well then, here have they been all of this time?" Jackie demanded.

"I hired him," Hermione stated, "I wanted to track my parents down and Rose came with us."

"What?" Jackie gaped.

"That's right," the Doctor chimed in," oi! Wha-! Hermione!" 

The Doctor's outstretched hand was to last thing Hermione saw as Snape suddenly snatched her by the arm and the sensation of being sucked through a plughole later found her stumbling into the arms of someone.  
"Blimey!" 

Looking up, she saw Ron. Straightening, she saw Fred, George, Ginny and Harry playing with Snuffles.  
She was stood in the little park outside Grimmauld Place.  
"You could have just asked, professor." Snape glared at her before Moody's gruff voice sounded.

"Everyone, inside, now." he ordered, giving Hermione a look that made her feel six inches tall.

No one argued as they all marched back into the house, Hermione heaved a sigh, _there goes my freedom_ , she thought solemnly, patting down her jeans to find her phone, finding in in the same back pocket as a piece of paper... no an envelope.  
Pulling out her Hogwarts letter she frowned, _it's heavier than it should be_. Opening the envelope, she saw a scrawl on the back of the letter **this is a TARDIS key, keep it close and let no one else have it.**  
Smiling to herself, she pulled out an ordinary Yale key on a thin chain, _I can always change that_ , holding it close to her chest she then put it around her neck.

"Granger," Moody's voice broke her trance, "downstairs, the rest of you-"

"-are coming with her." Ron cut across, hooking his arm through hers and giving her a flashy grin, "I wanna hear about your trip!"

Hermione giggled, "who are you and what have you done to Ron Weasley?"   
The two were still chuckling as they entered the kitchen.

Over the course of the next hour, Hermione was asked a lot of questions, many of which were the same thing just worded differently in an attempt to catch her out.<  
Eventually, Molly interrupted them by placing various drinks in front of everyone. "I think that's enough questions for one day, poor thing has only just got in, after all."

Hermione frowned at the mug of tea in front of her, casting sideways glances at everyone else that had a drink in front of them as they took sips. "Do I look stupid?" she said darkly, folding her arms over her chest, "this had Veritaserum in it."  
The sounds of her fellow students spitting out their drinks would have made her laugh if it wasn't insulting.

"How did you know that?" Harry asked, wiping his mouth.

"Sudden change in subject followed with drinks? Plus, the good professor here -" she waved a hand in Snape's direction, "-has yet to leave."

Silence fell over the group as they thought about her words, broken suddenly by the sound of clapping coming from Sirius. "Nicely done, Hermione." he praised.

"Yes, indeed," Snape interjected, "well done, Miss Granger. Just one last question and we shall leave it."

"What would that be, Professor?"

"How did he get in here?" Snape pointed to the door, where everyone was on their feet, wands out, even Hermione, until she saw who it was.

"Sweet Merlin!" Molly exclaimed.

"Hello, Hermione." The Doctor beamed at her as she lowered her wand and hopped up to him.

"Hello, Doctor," she beamed back, "what brings you here?"

The Doctor smiled at her, "I came to make sure you were safe, on account of you left _these_ ," he held up the bags of school supplies, "back at the flat."  
There was a pulsating feeling in Hermione's veins that found her pushing the Doctor to one side as a spell shot out and hit her. She hit the floor with a scream, the Doctor's arms covering her protectively.  
"What the hell is wrong with you people?!" he shouted, standing.

"How did you get in here?!" Molly hissed, "you are a Muggle, how could you even _see_ this house?!" No one lowered their wands as Hermione felt the twitching subsiding.

"I gave Hermione a gift, earlier, it acts similar to the tracers in her wand." The Doctor explained, "she'd left her school stuff behind and I just thought she might like it back."

Still twitching, Hermione got to her feet, trembling hands clutching the back of the Doctor's jacket. He turned to help her straighten up, his eyes were burning with anger as Sirius stood in front of him, shielding him from further attack.  
"That's enough. Both Ron and myself can vouch for this man, he is not a threat. Leave him be, before Hermione gets herself severely hurt."

The fire in the Doctor's eyes had not dimmed, that look all-to familiar to Hermione by now. "Come on, get your stuff, I'm taking you back to Rose."  
Hermione made to obey, but her legs gave out.

Fred and George jumped up as she hit the floor, "we'll get it for you, 'Mione!" they disappeared for a moment or two, their mother spluttering. They returned moments later with Hermione's school bag, tapped her bags of supplies and handed her the bag, "we've shrunk it all down." George explained as Hermione watched Fred hand bags to Harry and Ron, handing Ron an object that looked funnily like another book.  
George glared at Snape, "go on, get out of here."

"Catch," Fred said to the Doctor, shoving Ron and Harry into him, forcing him back into Hermione, who was grabbed by Ron and their Portkey activated.

Finding themselves outside at the park, Hermione saw the TARDIS the other side of the park, the Doctor straightened up, hooked his arm around Hermione's waist as Ron spoke, "let's move." he led the way to the TARDIS, pushing Harry in front of him as they reached the doors, "straight in, mate."  
Hermione watched as he was unceremoniously shoved inside, hearing him exclaim as the Doctor guided her in, stopping him from exiting.

"Unless you want to go back to that prison of a house, I'd wait until we get to where we're going." The Doctor spoke, flipping several switches as he passed the console to sit Hermione down.

Harry was still awestruck as he and Ron came and sat either side of her, as for the witch herself, she was fighting to keep the tears at bay at the TARDIS spoke to her.  
 _ **Why did those humans hurt you?**_ There was a warm soothing breeze from an unseen air conditioning unit, Hermione closed her eyes as the pain dissipated and the twitching ceased. _**I thought they were supposed to be protecting you?**_

"Technically it was the Doctor they were aiming for, not me," Hermione answered.

_**But that, then, does not explain why they took you away from Jackie Tyler as they did.** _

Hermione smiled, "I'm still trying to figure that out, myself."  
The TARDIS landed in the same place she had before, and the Doctor led the group back up to where Rose and Jackie were waiting, with a policeman.  
"Oh for crying out loud!" Hermione exclaimed, exasperation finally catching up to her. Turning back to the door, she walked out, saying "Rose can answer for me as we were together the entire time. If anyone wants me, I'll be on the roof."

Finding a secluded corner on the roof, she sat down and huddled her knees up and under her chin. _What is the matter with me?_ She thought, it was strange to her, the sudden emotional instability she was suffering. She had always managed to keep a clear head, it was needed when Harry and Ron were involved. Seriously, if it wasn't for Harry, would anyone really care if she had gone missing?  
 _Twelve days... I wonder if they know?_

"Hey down there."  
Gasping, Hermione looked up with bleary eyes to see the Doctor taking off his jacket and putting it over her shoulders. "You okay?"

Hermione sniffled and shook her head, "not really... I'm just being silly."

"What's up?" he asked, sitting down next to her.

She thought for a moment, wondering if the fantastic alien of a man would still want her around if he saw how she really felt. "There's a flat next door to Jackie's, we live in it... or rather we did, now it's a hideout for the Order." she began, trying and failing to keep the cynicism out of her voice.

"We?"

"My family and I... my parents," she paused a moment, gathering her thoughts. "When we first met you, I was told two things. The first was the I was being moved to the house that you've just brought me away from, the second, was that my parents were being moved across the country." Her voice broke.  
"I don't know _where_ they are and I highly doubt they even know I was missing unless Jackie's told them..."

"That lot back there do seem to baby you," the Doctor agreed, "treat you like you're five rather than fifteen. You seemed to do a one eighty in personality when they're around."

"Hah!" Hermione gave him a look, her hysteria and lack of self confidence rose. "That's putting it _mildly_ " she sneered, "Molly isn't my mother, yet she tires to control _everything_ , the entire house! It's driving me _mad_! None of them really care about me, I'm just the _Mudblood_ best friend of Harry Potter, who's life is worth a damn sight more than mine!" Now that she had started, there was no stopping it.  
"I don't even understand why _you_ of all people would want someone like me around, I'm nothing but a book worm! I'm not brave, I'm only as smart as the books I read, Harry and Ron are the only people who tolerate me, and even _they_ have an ulterior motive!" she took a breath, "I'm just a walking library," she looked down at the Doctor, "I'm nothing!" she said quietly, "just an insufferable know-it-all Mudblood."

The Doctor shifted so that he was crouching in front of her, "now you listen here, Hermione Granger," he took her hands, "there is _nothing_ wrong with being a know-it-all."

"No one likes a smart-ass," she argued.

"Then don't be likable," he argued back, "be like me. Not everyone likes me. The point is, being smart -being intelligent- is who you are, you start trying to be likable and you _stop_ being unique, you stop being _you_."  
He looked down at her hands then held them up to the light, "and as for bravery, there are scars on these hands that would say otherwise." Hermione saw the scars from the Platform, Jabe's final cry ringing in her ears.  
"You are smart and you are brave, a unique combination. Now, come here," the Doctor pulled her into a hug, "I prefer you as a smart-ass." 

Hermione laughed as she heard Rose calling for them, Harry and Ron at her heels.


	11. Aliens... sort of.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Hermione drags Harry and Ron along for the ride.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for Hermione's apparent change in behaviour, but it's part of a bigger story that will come into play in later instalments, so please bear with me.  
> There will be subtle hints towards the reasons, as well as different moments where her confidence gets knocked (she _is_ human after all).
> 
> Anyway, sorry for the wait on this one, I'm hand writing them first so that I can get a feel for the chapter before putting it up here. 
> 
> Kudos and Reviews my fellow readers!! I love reading comments from you guys!!

The Doctor hauled Hermione to her feet, still grinning as Rose, Harry and Ron found them.  
"I can't tell her anything!" Rose resided, hopping up onto of the vents.

"Well," that Doctor huffed, leaning next to her, Hermione handed him back his jacket, "if it's this much trouble, are you two going to stay?"

"Not a chance." Hermine blurted, hearing one voice of surprise and three chuckles, "I am _not_ staying here after the way I've been treated today." She pouted.

There was a moment before Rose started to giggle. "I can't believe mum _slapped_ you!"

Hermione blinked, "what?" she laughed, turning to the now sulking Doctor.

"900 years of time and space and I've _never_ been slapped by someone's mother!" He whined, causing them all to laugh.

"You should have seen it, 'Mione!" Ron gasped, "Jackie was all like 'stitch this, mate' and SMACK!"

Hermione wiped away tears of mirth before turning to the Doctor, "so, when you say 900 years?"

"That's my age," he informed.

"That's one _hell_ of an age gap!" Harry exclaimed. Catching Hermione's look of surprise at how well he was taking this, he shrugged, "Ron told me everything."

Grinning, Hermione nodded, "you remember that day I phone the house phone?"

"Yeah."

"I had - in fact - been calling from five _billion_ years in the future, watching the Earth burn." 

"Really?!" 

"Yeah." Hermione looked out over the cityscape, the centre out in the distance, the sounds of London all around them. "We've seen all that stuff up there, the size of it all..." she mused, " aliens, spaceships, and all manner of species.... and Rose and I are the only ones that know they exist."

As she had been talking, she had taken note of a jet engine rumbling over head, getting steadily louder. A horn sounded as she looked up and ducked instinctively, her reason?

An alien spaceship!

It looked to be heavily damaged if the black smoke it was spewing out of it's backend was anything to go by.  
Hermione got to her feet, her mouth agape, as she watched the ship swerve left and right, taking a sharp turn to miss Tower Bridge, yet slamming into Big Ben before crashing into the Thames, a plume of black smoke could be seen on the horizon from the rooftop of their building.

"Oh that's just not fair!" Rose and Hermione said in unison.  
The Doctor laughed and led the way back down the staircase, Ron and Harry seconds behind Hermione.

The group hit the street to find it gridlocked. "Any ideas?" Rose asked the Doctor.

"Not a one! This is _fantastic_! I'm so glad I'm here!" The Doctor was buzzing.  
Hermione looked at Harry and Ron, who were trying to find a way through.  
"Come on, you three!" The Doctor called, "We'll try and find out more on telly."

They trooped back to the flat, only for Hermione to let out of growl.  
"Remus." she greeted as Remus Lupin came out of _her_ flat.

"You are a predictable man, Doctor." 

"Not really," the Doctor pulled Hermione ahead of him, Rose, Harry and Ron followed behind her, "Hermione is safer with Jackie, as far as I am concerned, so with Jackie she stays." he spoke sweetly, another tone that Hermione had grown used to. He used this one when talking to a person he considered an idiot.... not that Remus Lupin was an idiot. Pushing past the werewolf, the Doctor led them back into the flat, where Hermione sat against the arm of the sofa, Harry and Ron squeezing in next to her with Rose at the other end.

It was a great idea at first, Jackie was going to make everyone a cup of tea, but Hermione was already there with one for the Doctor, knowing that Jackie wasn't going to make one for him, "here you go, Doctor." she offered, getting a smile of gratitude in return.   
Placing herself on the floor between Harry's legs. She took her favourite mug as it was passed down from Rose.  
It wasn't much of a mug, is was Disney, large and red, with '2005' splashed over it and the Disney gang on the front. It was her favourite because it was the only time she had been to Disney.  
Focusing on the telly became harder as more people came in to welcome Rose home and to scold the Doctor. Picking up her now luke warm mug, Jackie took it from her and made her a fresh one before Hermione took it and left to get changed. 

She was going to change in the TARDIS, but changed her mind. Unlocking the door to the flat that she used to live in, she almost cried. _Nothing_ was the same as when she was last here. Everything that her parents had owned - including the TV - had been removed, replaced by wizarding things, the flat's dimensions were different, resembling the TARDIS in being bigger on the inside to accommodate more wizards that it was originally built for. 

She put her mug down and wandered the flat, trying desperately to find her old room, finding that it was the only room that had not been touched. Her heart had never felt heavier. Sitting on the edge of her bed, she looked around, spying the photo album she had created after her first year.   
She remembered that she had read an advanced book in the library in her first year with had shown her how to create photos from memories using a pensieve, she had created a pensieve in her third year (that had been a challenge to create due to the amount of work she had lumped on herself, and had to beg McGonagall to let her take it home with her) and used it to recreate certain memories into photos.  
Picking it up, she smiled as memories came back to her, including ones she had not thought of for years now. 

Blinking back the tears, Hermione waved her hand and allowed her Wicca magic to pack everything into an enchanted suitcase -possibly belonging to Remus- except for the outfit and shoes she had chosen.  
The outfit was simple, consisting of a plain what t-shirt, a patterned over vest, light blue jeans and a pair of parchment coloured converse that she's had customised last year in Hogsmeade so that they carried the Gryffindor emblem on the sides, they were enchanted to be water-proof, dirt proof and wear and tear resistant (well she was Harry's best friend and he tended to get them into trouble... a lot like the Doctor).  
She finished off her look with a light beige denim jacket and tied up her hair with a generic hair tie and a red and gold scrunchie for aesthetic.

Dragging the suitcase to the front door, she picked up her cup of tea and drained it, feeling the still hot liquid slide down her throat, instantly calming her thoughts. _That woman is a witch in disguise, I swear!_ Hermione thought to herself, dragging the suitcase out to the front door of Jackie's, deciding to leave it in Rose's room and wait until she had a chance to get back down to the TARDIS.

Several hours went by with Remus and Sirius -in dog form- keeping a sharp eye on Hermione's every movement. She made the Doctor a sandwich, refusing one herself. Her mind was still on the reconfigured flat next door.   
A plate was stuck under her nose, showing half of a ham and tomato sandwich, looking up, she saw the Doctor had one half sticking out of his mouth. "Thanks." she took it and scooted up to him, wrapping a lonely arm around his ankle, her fingers absentmindedly playing with his shoelace. Yes, she was lonely, even with a room full of people she had grown up around.

She could tell from the occasional glance over at where she had moved to sit on Rose's lap, that the Doctor was getting irritated by the noise and Hermione would be lying if her own patience wasn't being tested here.  
From what she could hear, there had been an alien body brought out of the wreckage and taken to Albion Hospital, roads were closed, patients were being moved out onto the streets -she _that_ outrageous- the Prime Minister was missing and everyone turning up at Downing Street needed to lay off the McDonalds.

Feeling claustrophobic and unbearably warm, Hermione got to her feet, tapping Ron's knee, "I'll be outside."   
Shutting the door on the noise, Hermione leant out over the walkway and took a deep breath, held it, then let all of the stress and anxiety and depression of today dissipate along with that one exhale.  
Looking down, she spied street parties on the ground, watching them in mild curiosity, Hermione found her eyes wandering to the TARDIS, that ordinary blue box that held the wonders of the universe inside her doors...  
Clenching her fists, Hermione looked back at the door to Jackie's, then turned away. She trotted down to ground level and walked out to the TARDIS, deciding to try her key out.

She passed a group of drunk lads no older than her, smirking at their cat-calling, as she unlocked the door, then pushed the door open wide to step in, knowing someone was behind her, laughing to herself as the door slammed shut on the face of one of cat-callers that had tried his luck.  
"Thank you." she sighed, relishing in the sudden silence.  
Wandering over to the console room's pilot seat, Hermione sat down, closed her eyes and listened to what sounded like breathing -the TARDIS was _breathing_!  
"You really are amazing Old Girl." she breathed, shutting her mind off to the noise of the world outside those doors, listening to the soothing sounds of the TARDIS breathing, feeling utterly safe.

What seemed like seconds later, Hermione startled to hear the door open, breathing a sigh of relief to see it was the Doctor, who seemed equally surprised to see her.  
He grinned at her, "you wanna come?" She returned the grin and hopped up to the console, "fantastic! Grab that lever!"

Moments later they landed with a bump.  
"Right," the Doctor flicked a lever and turned to Hermione, "there's most likely going to be armed guards, just don't mention the TARDIS or the fact that I'm an alien and you'll be fine, okay?" Hermione nodded and followed him out, blinking away the disappointment at the fact they had landed in a utility cupboard.

"Cosy." she breathed.

"Sshh," the Doctor scolded both her and the sonic screwdriver, which whirred too loudly.  
He held the door open for Hermione to step through, only to pull her against him; the door led out into a break room full of soldiers wearing red berets -parachute regiment.

There was a moment that Hermione would reminisce to have been straight out of a Loony Tunes cartoon. The soldiers stared at the two of them, who stared back, the second it took for the soldiers to register them followed with them scrambling to their feet, weapons cocked, shining their torches in their faces.  
"I think we took a wrong turn at Albuquerque." she joked.

There was a scream down the hall, the Doctor instantly took charge. "Defence plan Delta! Come on, move, _move_! Hermione stay close!" he grabbed her hand and pulled her down the corridor, ahead of the troop.

Reaching the dark morgue -it _was_ night time, Hermione reminded herself- Hermione looked around as the Doctor set up a perimeter, locking down the hospital. "Oh my God, are you alright?!" She released the Doctor's hand and knelt down next to an oriental woman, she had a cut on the side of her head. 

"It's alive!" the woman breathed, fear evident in her eyes as she scrambled to grab Hermione's outstretched hands, "my God, it's still _alive_!"

The troops spread out, weapons raised, whispering orders to one another. "What did it look like?" the Doctor asked.

There was a metallic clatter, Hermione froze. "Doctor, it's still _here_!" The Doctor dropped to the floor, indicating for Hermione to stay quiet.  
Nodding, Hermione moved as quietly as she dared without making too much noise. She crawled to the other end of the autopsy table's only leg, hoping to catch a look at the alien.  
Something moved behind the cabinet directly in front of her, away from her and into the Doctor's direction.

"Hello," the Doctor's gentle voice sounded, making Hermione smile a small smile, she liked that voice.  
There was a squeal, a pig in a spacesuit ran off on it's hindlegs.  
"Don't shoot!" The Doctor shouted, as Hermione took off after it.

"Wait, please, we don't want to hurt you!" she called.

A soldier appeared, cutting it off, shouted at Hermione and fired.  
Hermione covered her face with a shriek as the Doctor passed her, laying comforting hands on her shoulders before approaching the pig. "What did you do _that_ for?!" he snapped at the soldier, following Hermione down to the floor, "it was _scared_!"  
He picked it up and carried it back to the autopsy table.

"So, where is it from?" Hermione asked, standing directly opposite to the Doctor.

There was a moment before he answered her. "Think of a mermaid," he explained, "Victorian showmen used to draw in crowds by sticking a land animal head to the tail of a fish and calling it a mermaid." Hermione nodded, though deep in her mind of witchcraft, knew that mermaids _did not_ look like that. 

"So, someone took a regular pig," the woman from earlier mused, "and stuck bits of technology into it's brain..."

"Then strapped it to that heap of junk and sent it to dive bomb the Thames." Hermione finished, looking at the Doctor.

He nodded, then indicated that Hermione follow him. Doing so, he led her back to the TARDIS in silence.  
"I think we're in trouble." Hermione said as Rose, Ron and Harry entered, Harry no longer looking perplexed.

"Okay," the Doctor heaved a sigh, "I lied, I went to have a look and Hermione came with me." he admitted as Jackie and Mickey entered.

Hermione went cold as Remus followed behind them, "Oh Merlin, Remus, wait!"  
She chased after Remus as Rose chased after Jackie. Remus and Jackie ran back into the flats, Snuffled chasing after them. "Remus, please, it's not what you think!" Stopping, Hermione looked between the door to the flats and the doors to the TARDIS, a feeling of familiarity washing over her, quickly squashed as she and Rose ran back into the ship.

"So, what, the whole thing was a pack of lies?" Rose asked Hermione as the two of them re-joined the others at the console.

"Yep." Hermione answered, tucking herself between Harry and Ron as Rose rolled her eyes.

"So, are they invading?" Ron asked.

_How is this suddenly the new norm?_ Hermione thought, giving a small shake of her head at how easy it was for someone who knew nothing about a rubber duck could understand an alien invasion.

"Funny way to invade, putting the world on red alert." Mickey offered.

"Good point, so what are they doing?" the Doctor asked rhetorically. There was a scratch at the doors, "someone get that!" he called as he dove under the console.

Hopping down the gangway, Hermione opened the door and looked down and smiled at Sirius. "Hey, you!" she greeted as he trotted in. He dropped a package on the floor above the Doctor, turned and went back to the door.   
Harry went to let him out as Hermione peeked through the bag to see her school books. "These things are going to be the _death_ of me." she sighed.

"You get through them, yet?" Harry joked, leaning against the railings opposite the console.

"Yes, actually. That's the beauty of a time machine," she explained, "I've done my homework, too."

The boys laughed at her. "Always the bookworm, eh?" Ron laughed, "ow!" he pitched forward, clutching the back of his head.  
Looking around, Hermione saw the Doctor with a thick black cable in his hands, "what was that for?!" 

The Doctor had been winding the cable around the console, the end of witch had a plug-like tip and had purposely hit Ron in the back of the head. Hermione had not seen the look he had been giving the boys as they made fun of her, but now she could see the Doctor give the boys an annoyed look. "You might want to appreciate Hermione a bit more," he said, his eyes flashing dangerously for a second.   
"She has a fantastic mind that is rare to see in anyone on this planet, especially in this century. She clearly adores the two of you and is kind enough to _want_ to help you two out in times of need, even though you two," he pointed the plug at the two boys, "treat her like a walking library."  
He took their silence and continued, "one day, she might want to put herself first, then where would the two of you be?" 

Leaving those words hanging in the air, the Doctor ducked back down under the grating. Ron turned to Hermione, "do we really treat you like that?"

_**By the constellation Kasterborous, he is stupid!**_ the TARDIS chuckled, making Hermione smirk.

Still grinning, she turned to Ron, "yeah you do. But I always get a thank you for it, so usually I let it slip," she cast her gaze downwards in the Doctor's direction, "I had a crash in my self-worth earlier, so he's trying to get everyone to see what he sees... whatever that may be." she chuckled.

There was a deafening silence before the Doctor gave a triumphant cry, "got it!" he popped up behind Harry, making him jump. "I've latched into the radar, loop it back twelve hours and," he clapped his hands as Hermione saw the screen, "now we can follow the trajectory of the ship!" 

"But that looks like it's come from Earth." Hermione noted, watching what appeared to be a slingshot manoeuvre fry across the screen.

"That means they've been here a while," the Doctor mused, "so what have they been doing?"   
Tapping a button on the monitor, the Doctor started channel hopping. Finding a news channel, he hummed in thought. "I know that lot." The newscaster stated that it looked as though Downing Street was bringing in alien specialists, "UNIT."

"Who are they?" Harry asked.

"Unified Intelligence Taskforce, they're good people," the Doctor explained. 

"How do you know them?" Rose asked.

"He used to work for them," Mickey answered, "search the internet deep enough and you find his name along with a list of the dead."

Harry turned to Hermione, his eyes wide in worry, "okay _now_ I'm worried."

Hermione shrugged, "Tell me how being one of _your_ best friends has _ever_ been any safer." She jabbed a finger into his chest to emphasise her point.

Ron laughed, "she's got a point, mate."

The Doctor pulled Hermione towards the doors, "Harry and Ron are going to have to stay behind this time, I'm afraid." he said.

"That's fair," Ron replied, following the group outside to Mickey's car; they were going to see the spaceship now that the roads were clearing.

There was barely a second of fresh air before Hermione and Ron swung round to shield Harry from the sudden bright light of- "DO NOT MOVE!" The voices of armed police and the sounds of helicopter rotaries brought Hermione to the realisation that they were _not_ Death Eaters. Hermione saw Mickey run.  
"STEP AWAY FROM THE BOX AND RIASE YOUR HANDS ABOVE YOUR HEADS!" 

"Rose! Hermione! No stop!" Jackie's voice could be heard alongside the barking of the black dog at her heels, snapping at the officers as they manhandled Jackie and Remus.

"Sir, get your dog under control or we are authorised to shoot it!" 

A soldier separated Harry, Ron and Hermione from the TARDIS -Hermione made sure to lock the doors- "raise your hands above your heads, you are under arrest!" 

Doing as asked, Hermione turned to face a police car big enough for them all. "The Daily Prophet is going to _love_ this." she groaned.

"Wait, please!" she heard Remus calling out, pleading with the Muggles, "three of them are _minors_!" He was trying to keep them out of trouble, but Hermione, Harry and Ron were bundled into the back of the car along with the Doctor and Rose.

As Rose and the Doctor bantered, Hermione, who had been watching as the London scenery went by, felt a nervous hand lace hers. Looking over, she saw Harry with the look of one who was going to be sick. She squeezed his hand as the Doctor took note, "you three look like you've just been sentenced to death. What's up?"

Hermione explained, again, about the war that everyone was denying, adding Harry's predicament to the story. "Oh. Well this isn't going to be pleasant for you three then, is it?" The Doctor stated.

"Not really. People think Harry and Dumbledore are liars and are calling them crack-pots now." Ron spoke, earning him a glared from Hermione. They were at Number 10 Downing Street by the time everything had been explained, cameras and press people greeted them on the other side of the road, thankfully the windows were tinted. 

"Oh great," she sighed, the Doctor gave her knees a tap and she made to get out, "Ron, keep your head down and _don't_ look at the cameras." she hissed, her eyes were deadly serious knowing Ron would not disobey. "That goes for you, too Harry. We don't know if the Prophet is out there."

"Rodger that, 'Mione." Ron nodded and got out of the car, keeping himself low as Harry got out next, Hermione got out behind him and pushed the boys inside as Rose and the Doctor got out.

Rose said something that she didn't hear as they entered the building, "urgh, this is _stressful_! she complained as the Doctor joined them, wrapping arms around her shoulder and Rose's.  
After all of the palaver of getting here, Rose and the trio were told that they couldn't even go inside with the Doctor. He tried to argue against it, but the official in charge -Ganesh apparently- insisted that they had no clearance.

"Oh Merlin, no..." Hearing Ron groan Hermione turned and felt the colour drain out of her face.

The Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, was looking around him at everyone, stood either side of him were Lucius and Draco Malfoy -father and son respectively- they were the last people she needed to see.  
"This is about to get messy." she mumbled, taking note that Draco noticed them.

Rose's timing was perfect as she arrived with a backbench MP, Harriet Jones, MP Flydale North, who looked terrified. "I think you had all best come with me." she encouraged, her words trembled. Rose pushed Hermione forwards then grabbed Harry and Ron, thankfully, before anyone else spotted them.

"Granger!" to her dismay, Draco followed them into the nearby cabinet room.

"Not _now_ Malfoy!" she snapped, as Harriet burst into tears.

"What are you doing here, Mudblood?" he spat.

Hermione resisted the urge to slap him and answered, "for your information we were _invited_ here!" 

"Bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed as something landed on the floor with a thump. 

Hermione and Draco approached to find a skin suit on the back of a chair, feeling it, she pulled back her hand in disgust and held back her vomit, "it's a flesh suit!" the vomit didn't stay down for long as her eyes next met the source of the thump; it was the dead body of the Prime Minister.  
She found a nearby vase and threw up.

"Oh for God's sake, Harriet!" the man from earlier, Ganesh, suddenly appeared in the doorway, apparently unaware that Harriet had taken them all. 

As Harriet was being chewed out, Hermione looked at Draco as she wandered over to Rose. He strode over to the group about to demand something when a woman -Hermione remembered her name was Margaret Blaine- came in, a sly dangerous smile on her face.  
"Has someone been naughty?" A sickly sweet smile accompanied an equally sickly sweet voice.

Hermione's gut told her something was off, "Malfoy," she spoke through gritted teeth, "get behind me, _now_!" 

A disgusted look from the young wizard in question gave her his answer before he spoke, "not a chance, Mudblood!" 

"Oh, _once_ more, Malfoy I _swear_!" she growled.

"That's impossible!" Ganesh stumbled over his words, stopping any further rebuke, "the Prime Minister left Downing street this afternoon! He was driven away!" 

Margaret reached for her hairline, "and who told you that?" she pulled a zip across her head, Hermione watched as Malfoy's mouth dropped and he ran behind her, a blue light now filling the room as it emitted from the forehead on the monster in front of them. " _Me_!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no! Not Malfoy!!   
> Lol I can already hear the cries, but have no fear, his is a small role... ish, anyway.
> 
> Hope you all like it, as requested above, kudos and reviews my fellow readers!!


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